
ass .i ) ^hb 






PRESENTliD BY 



/ 

A 
NORTHERN SUMMER; 

OR 

TRAVELS 

ROUND THE BALTIC, 

THROUGH 

DENMARK, SWEDEN, RUSSIA, PRUSSIA, 

AND 

♦ ' ■ "■ - 

PART OF GERMAKY, 

IN THE YEAR 

1804. 

/ 



BY JOHN CARR, ESQ. 

AUTHO-R OF THE STRANGER IN FRANCE, 
&C. &C. 



From the first London edition, published in 1805* 



HARTFORD : 
PRINTED BY LINCOLN AND GLEASON. 

1806. 



0> 



^^' 



31992 




to THE HOKORABLE 

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, KNT. 

RECORDER OF BOMBAT. 
SIR, 

WHILE you are imparting new light to those 
regions, so gloriously illuminated by the genius and the 
virtues of the late Sir William Jones, will you allow a 
Traveller to express his thoughts to you in contempla- 
ting your character and situation ? I cannot but felicitate 
that race of my ff llow-creatures who are placed within 
the protection of your judicial care ; yet, in recollecting 
how many listened to you with delight in this country, I 
feel your distance from it, in one point of view, a source 
of national regret. Conscious that these sentiments are 
sincere, I am encouraged by them to request, that you 
will honor with indulgent acceptance, a book, whose au- 
thor has endeavored to unite amusement and informa- 
tion. 



ir DEDICATION, 

Doubtful of success in each of his purposes, he is- 
anxious to conciliate favor, by introducing his perform* 
ance to the Public under the shelter of your name : a 
name that awakens universally the respect due to the 
beneficent exertions of knowledge and irresistible elo- 
quence. 

That health and felicity may attend you, in those 

scenes of arduous duty where your gracious Sovereign 

has stationed you ; and that you may return to this fa-^ 

Yored island, and long enjoy in it all the various rewards. 

of honorable service, is the ardent wish of him who is, 

Sir, 

With the truest esteem, 

Your faithful and obedient servant, 

JOHN CARR. 

No. 2, Garden-Court, Teimple, 
1st June, 1805. 



X HE AGREEMENT page 1 1 

CHAPTER I. 

Time of setting forth. A western town. Harwich. The 
poor Norwegian's tomb. Helogoland. Floating merry 
faces. Hasum. A Stuhlwaggon. The fair. The 
wonder. Novel application o£-a church. Waltzes. 
A shocking secret P« 1 3 

CHAPTER IT 

Dull matters necessary to be known. The village wonder. 
Musical Postilions. Snaps. Farm4iouses andinn. The 
post delivered. A conspiracy. Bolton*s dollar. The 
little Belt. Village bride.. The great Belt. Corsoer. 

. Bardolph's nose p. 22 

CHAPTER HT 

Danish character. Gin. Zealand. Turnpike gate. Mil& 
stones. Intelligence of women. The tomb of Juliana 
Maria. Husband intriguing with his wife. Margaret 
of Voldemar. The mourning mother. Copenhagen. 
A Danish dinner. Tomb of the Heroes of the second 
of April, 1801. The battle of that day. Lord Nelson, 
The brave young Welmoes p. 32 

A 2 



Yi CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Valor facetious. Gallery of paintings. Curiosities. Ty- 
choBrahe's golden nose. The garden of Fredericsberg». 
The Crown Prince. The fashionable schoolmaster and 
little baronet. Grateful peasant. Religion. Excellent 
law. The burgomaster and Canary bird. The hermit 
of Dronningaard. Quickness of vegetation. The pris- 
oner's son. Palace of Rosenberg. Table d'hote. DrolL 
misconception of the English ladles. Rasp house, 
Dutch town p. 45 



CHAPTER V. 

Fredericksborg. Storks. Fastidious Mares. Forest laws^ 
Penalties of travelling. Prince William of Gloucester.. 
Continental equipages, Hamlet's Orchard. Cronberg 
Castle. Some aftecting scenes which passed there. 
The farewell kiss. The galantry of Captain Macbride, 
The little court of ZelL The death of the Queen 
Matilda p. 6S 



CHAPTER VI. 

Cross the Sound. Sweden. Cinderella's Mice. Rapid 
travelling. Strange question. Roof-grazing. Mis- 
led by the light. A discovery. A caution. A French- 
hotel p. 78 



CHAPTER VII. 

National welcome. Brief description of Stockholm. A 
great genius in decline. Painting. Short sketch of 
Gustavus III. Female stratagem. The palace. The 
state bed. The Opera-house. Assassination. For- 
giveness. A hint not intended to offend p» 89 



CONTENTS. Til 



CHAPTER Vm. 

A visit in die country. Observatory. Dinner and fash- 
ions. Blooming girls of Delecarlia. Drottingholm. 
Queen Christina's cunning. Wardrobe af Charles 
XII. Beauty. Concealment and prudery. National 
importance of a British advocate. Contrasted justice^ 
Haga. Cause of the friendship of Gustavus III. for 
Sir Sydney Smith. A singular anecdote. A review. 
Iron mines. Linnseus p. 101 



CHAPTER IX. 

Poor post-horses. Language. Merry criminal. Pri- 
soners. Psalm-singing watchmen. Washerwomen. 
French comedy. Passports. Indecorum of a little 
dog. Set sail for Swedish Finland. Begging on a 
new element. Islands upon islands. A massacre. 
The arts. Abo. Flies. Forests on fire. Russia. 
Fredericksham. Russian coins p. 126 



CHAPTER X. 

Rustic urbanity. Wretched village. No. 1. Wibourg^ 
Greek religion. A charity sermon. Religion and 
extortion. A word or two to fortified towns. Starved 
horses. Volunteer jacket. Appearance of Peters- 
burg. Cossac. Renowned statue p. 1 47 



CHAPTER XL 

Advantages of the Imperial city. The village architect. 
The summer gardens. Kissing. Horses with false 
hair. Sweetness of Russian language. Bearded mil- 
liners. Incorruptibility of beards. Great riches 
amassed by common Russians. The cause of hu- 
manity and justice. Music and argument better than 



ym CONTENTS. 

the whip. A Negro's notions. Slavery. The Nevr 
Kazan p. 15S 

CHAPTER XII. 

Pedestrians, hoA? considered. The scaffoldingof the New 
Kazan church. Great ingenuity of common Russians. 
The market. The knout. Cruelty of the Empress 
Elizabeth. Punishment of two lovely females p. 1T5 

CHAPTER XIIL 

A caution. The house of Peter the Great. Singular an- 
ecdote. Police, A traveller's duty. An extraordina- 
ry purgation. A British court of criminal law. Noisy 
bells. Fruiterer. Ice. The sorrowful musicia.n. 
Drollery and drunkenness.. Imperial tlieatre. North- 
ern grandees p. 193 

CPIAPTER XIV. 

A gloomy catastrophe. . p. 210. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Sir John Borlase Warren. The Polignacs. The parade. 
The baneful effects of passion. The Emperor. A 
pickpocket. A tmvelltr's memorandums. Unpugi- 
listic bruisers. Doctor Guthrie. Visit to the Taurida 
palace. The colossal hall. The winter gardens. The 
banquet. Prince Potemkin. Raw carrots. Flying 
gardens. The house of Charles XIL at Bender dis- 
covered p. 223 

CHAPTER XVI. 

English ground in Russia. National baths. A new sect.. 
Hov/ customs vary. A panacea. Visit to the Empe- 
ror^s greatest favorite. A recipe for revolutionists .. 
Wild dogs. The marble church and pasquinade. 
Academy of Arts. A traveller's civilizing idea.. A 



CONTENTS. ix 

row to Kammenoi OstrofF. Delicacy and gratitude. 
Bravery and generosity of Gustavus III. to his barge- 
man. An elegant and grateful compliraent. Russian 
music. Its effect upon Italian ears and cows. Forest 
. on fire p. 237 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Court Clock. Winter palace, Hermitage. Players and 
government carriages. Convent des Demoiselles^ 
Instability of fortune. Generosity in a child. The 
Foundling hospital. , p. 250 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Apple-feast. Dog-killers. A barrier against swindling. 
Festivities of Peterhoff. Horn Music. A favorite bear. 
German theatre. Visit to Cronstadt. Prison. Mili- 
tary punishment. The inn. Oranienbaum. Flying 
mountains. The value of a bloody beard. Fasts, 
famine, and firmness p. 263 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Rising of the Neva. Academy of Sciences. The re- 
view. Cadet corps. Pelisses. Country palace of 
Zarsko Zelo. Another bust of the British Demos- 
thenes misplaced. Canine tumuli. Imperial plea- 
santry. Gatchina. Pauvoloffsky. Anniversary of 
a favorite saint. More dwarfs p. 274 

CHAPTER XX. 

Leave Petersburg. The little Swede. Adventures ^at 
Strelna. Narva. Bears. Beds. Dorpt. Teutonic 
knights and whimsical revenge. Whipping of boors. 
Brothers-in-law. Courland. Poles. Memel. Se- 
verity of Prussian drilling p. 28T 



n CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Desolate scene. English sailor wrecked. Konningbeg', 
Beauty in boots. Prussian roads. The celebrated 
ruins of Marienbourg. Dantzig. Coquetry in a box. 
Inhospitality. A German Jew. The little grocer, 
Dutch Vicar of Bray, Verses to a pretty Dantzick- 
er p. 300 

CHAPTER XXH. 

Reflections upon a stuhlwaggon. Prussian villages.- 
Military manoeuvres. Irish rebel. Berlin. Linden 
walk. Toleration. Prussian dintier. Cheap living.. 
The palace. Cadet corps p. 3 1 L 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Potsdam diligence. Potsdam. Sans Souci. Voltaire, 
and dogs of Frederick the Great. Noble firmness of 
an architect. King and lovely Queen of Prussia. An- 
ecdotes. Female travelling habit. The duchy of 
Meckleburg Swerin. Return to England p. 321 



THE AGREEMEJyT. 



X HE ground which my pen is about to retrace, has 
not very frequently been trodden by Englishmen. Nor- 
thern travellers of celebrity, whohave favored the world 
with the fruits of their researches, have generally appli- 
ed their learning and ingenuity more to illustrate the 
histories of the countries through which they have 
passed, than to delineate their national characteristics. 
Nature generally receives our last homage ; we never 
wander from the contemplation of her simple charms, 
but v»^e return to them with pleasure. As the attempt, 
although aiming at originality, is not of an aspiring 
nature, I feel the more confidence in stating, that the 
object of the following pages is to describe those fea- 
tures which principally distinguish us from our breth- 
ren in other regions, and them from each other. 

I hope that the execution of my wishes will at least 
be without the fault of fortifying those prejudices which 
so unhappily divide nations th^t ought to be linked to- 
gether by mutual love and admiration. Whilst I wish 
to amuse, I am desirous to facilitate the steps of those 
who may follow me, by giving the detail of coins, and 



n THE AGREEMENT. 

post charges, and some little forms which are necessafy 
to be observed in a northern tour. My descriptions fol'- 
low the objects which they pencil, and partake of the 
irregularity of their appearance, I write from my feel- 
ings ; and as I propose that my Reader shall travel with 
me, it is reasonable that he should share some of the 
inconveniences as well as the enjoyments of the excur- 
sion. Before we smile together in the beautiful islands 
of Sweden, we must be content to bear with resignation 
the gloom, of her almost interminable forests of fir. 

If he will not commence the Tour upon these terms, 
and agree to support without disappointment those vicis- 
situdes of amusement and of languor, that seldom fail 
to diversify all the roads both of literature and of life, 
much as I shall lament the separation, it will be best 
for both parties, that we should not wander together 
over another page. . 



A 

NORTHERN SUMMER 



OR 



TRAVELS 

ROUND THE BALTIC. 



CHAPTER I. 

Yime of setting forth^-^A ivestern town-^Harv^icIu—'The 
Jioor JVorivegian^s tomb—^Helogoland — Floating merry fa- 
ces— ^Husum 4 StuMwaggon—^ The fair — The ivonder-^ 

J^ovel application of a church-— Waltzes.-^ A shocking 
secret. 

IT was on the 14th of May, 1804, that, impelled by an 
ardent desire of contemplating the great and interest- 
ing volume of man, and by the hope of ameliorating a 
state of health which has too often awakened the solicitude 
of maternal affection, and of friendly sympathy, the wri- 
ter of these pages bade adieu to a spot in which the morn- 
ing of life had rolled over his head, and which a thousand 
circumstances had endeared to him. I cannot quit En*- 
gland without casting a lingering look upon my favorite 
little town of Totnes, where, as a characteristic, family aU 
liances are so carefully presented, that one death generally 
stains half the town black ; and where Nature has so uni- 
ted the charms of enlightened society, to those of romantic 
scenery, that had a certain wit but tasted of the former, 
he would have spared the whole country in which it stands, 
and would, not have answered, when requested to declare 

B 



14 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap; I. 

his opinion of the good people of Devon, that the further 
he travelled westward, the more persuaded he was that 
the wise men came from the east. 

The angry decrees of renovated war had closed the 
gates of the south ; the north alone lay expanded before 
me ; if she is less enchanting, thought I, perhaps she is 
the less known, and wherever man is, (women of course 
included) there must be variety : she has hitherto been 
contemplated, clad in fur, and gliding with the swiftness 
of a light cloud before the wind, upon her roads of shining 
snow. I will take a peep at her in her summer garb, afid 
will endeavor to form a nosegay of polar flowers. 

There is always a little bustle of action and confusion of 
ideas, when a man, about to slip from his friends, is in the 
agonies of flacking' up,. My mind alternately darted from 
my portmanteau, to the political appearances with which 
I was surrounded ; and, with all the vanity which gener- 
ally belongs to a traveller, I resolved to commemorate the 
period of my flight, by a cursory comment upon the state 
of my country, which, by the time the last strap was buck- 
led, was simply this : A great man had succeeded a good 
one in the direction of its august destinies, and another be-^ 
iiig who may be considered as the wonder of the west, was 
preparing amidst the blaze of brilliant novelties to mount 
the throne of a new dynasty ; amongst them was a threat 
to cover the shores of England, with his hostile legions. 
Nine hundred and ninety -nine Englishmen, out of one 
thousand, had started into martial array, ,on the sound of 
the haughty menace — patriotism, with the bright velocity 
of a wild-fire, ran through the valley and over the moun- 
tain, till at last it was discovered that we might be invaded 
whenever we pleased. Ministers were more puzzled by 
their friends, than their enemies ; where streams were 
expected to flow, torrents rolled headlong, and whatever 
may be our animosities, we are at least under an everlast- 
ing obligation to the French, for having enabled us to con- 
template such a spectacle of loyalty. How I happened 
to leave my country at this time, it may be proper to ex- 
plain : Devonshire offered, to her lasting honor, twenty 
thousand volunteer defenders of their homes and altars, 
pine thousand were only wanted or could be accepted ; ia 



Chap. 1.] NORTHERN SUMMER, 15 

the latter, a spirited body of my fellow-toWnsnlen, who 
honored me by an election to command them, were not 
inckided ; after encovmtering (and it was equal to a demi- 
campign) the scrutinizing eye of militia-men, and the 
titter of nursery -maids, until awkwardness yielded to good 
discipline, and improvement had taught our observers to 
respect us, we found that our intended services were su- 
perfluous, and I was at full liberty to go to any point of the 
compass ; so, after the touching scene of bidding adieu 
to an aged and beloved mother, whilst she poured upon 
me many a half-stifled prayer and benediction, I hastened 
to the capital, where, having furnished myself with the 
necessary passports and letters of introduction to our 
embassadors from the minister of foreign affairs, a circu- 
lar letter of credit and bills from the house of Ransom, 
Xvlorland, and company, upon their foreign correspond- 
ents, and with a packet of very handsome letters of private 
introduction, which were svv'^elled by the kindness of Mr. 
Grill, the Swedish consul, and a passport (indispensably 
necessary to the visitor of Sweden) from the baron Sil- 
verhjelm, the enlightened and amiable representative of a 
brave and generous nation, I proceeded to Harwich, and 
at midnight passed under the barrier arch of its watch- 
tower, which was thrown into strong picturesque varieties 
of shade, by its propitious light, which from the top flung 
its joyous lustre over many a distant wave, so gladdening 
to the heart of the homeward mariner. 

In the morning n>e went (I had a companion with me) 
to the packet-agency office, where we paid four guineas 
each for our passage to Husum ; 1/. \\s. 6d. for provi- 
sions on board (seldom tasted) ; after which douceurs of 
10s. 6d. each remained to be paid to the mate, and 7s. 
each to the crew, and 5s. apiece to a personage who con- 
tributes so largely to human happiness, and particularly 
to that of Englishmen, t'le cook ; we also paid ten guineas 
for the freight of a chariot belonging to an acquaintance 
at Petersburg, 2*. per ton on the tonnage of the vessel, 
and Is. in the pound upon the value of the s:ud carriage ; 
this accomplished, I had nothing further to do, but to 
amuse the time until four o'clock in the afternoon, when 
tlae foreign mail from London arrives. 



U NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, k 

The churcli-yard lay adjoining to the inn : in this so»^ 
iemn spot, we are not always enabled to indulge in. those 
serious and salutary reflections, which it ought alone to 
inspire ; the quaint or ridiculous effiisions of the village 
schoolmaster, and the sexton, those prolific mortuary lau« 
reates, too often awaken an irresistible smile, by com* 
Tnemorating the ravages of death in some pious pun or 
holy conundrum ; a perversion which well merits the in- 
terposition of the ecclesiastical officer whose power ex- 
tends over these regions of the dead. I had not wander- 
ed far, before a fresh plain slab attracted my notice, and 
by its inscription informed me that it was raised to the 
tnemory of captain Christensen, of Krajore in Norway, 
who fell by the bite of his dog, when mad ; the tale was 
simply, but touchingly, told, and drew from me the fol- 
lowing lines : 

All ! hapless stranger ! who without a tear 

Can this sad record of thy fate survey ? 
Ko angry tempest laid thee breathless here. 

Nor hostile sword, nor Nature's soft decay. 

The fond companion of thy pilgrim feet. 

Who watch'd when thou wouldst sleep, and moan'd if miss\i 
Until he found his master's face so sweet, 

Impressd'd with death the hand he oft had kiss'd. 

And here, remov'd from love's lamenting eye. 

Far from thy native cat'racts awful sound ; 
Far fronfi thy dusky forests' pensive sigh, 

Thy poor remains repose on alien ground. 
Yet Pity eft shall sit beside thy stone, 
And sigh as tho' she mourn'd a brother gone. 

Soon after we had quitted the tomb of the poor Nonve' 
gian, the mail arrived, and at five o'clock a favoring breeze 
bore us fix)m the lessening shore. Now, as I am one of 
those unhappy beings who, like Gonzalo in the Tempest, 
would at any time give one thousand furlongs of sea for 
an acre of barren ground ; and as there may be many 
more who may find the rocking of the ocean somewhat 
imfriendly to the regularity of appetite ; let me advise 
them to lay in s,qmejLncho3dies,=4'einons, oranges, and a,- 
iittlfi.bj^andy : and as we are upon the subject of travelling 
economy, let me also recommend the packing up of a pair 
of leather sheets and a leather pillow-case^ in addition t^ 



Chap. I.] NORTHERN SUMMER. If 

their linen ones ; the former will prevent the penetration 
of damp, and repel vermin. As we passed Orfordness- 
castle, the sun was setting in great glory ; and several 
ships working to windward, and alternately crossing each 
other, presented the most graceful figures : it was such 
a scene as the chaste spirit of Vernet might have hovered 
over with delight. The . next day, we saw the topmasts 
of our brave blockaders off the Texel ; it was painful to 
contemplate the effects of a dire necessity which forces 
us to harass a people, who in their hearts cherish no ani- 
mosity, but against the tyranny which separates them from 
us. A noble frigate from the squadron passed us under .a 
cloud of sail, '' breasting the lofty surge ;" she proudly 
dashed tlirough the foam of the ocean, and to the eye of 
Fancy looked like the palace of Neptune. Her appear- 
ance reminded me of the nervous, spirited, and Chatham- 
like exclamation of a celebrated wit, upon the same sub- 
ject : " an English man-of-war is the thhig after all : she 
" speaks all languages ; is the best negotiator, and the 
" most profound politician, in this island ; she was Oliver 
'• Cromwell's embassador j she is one of the honestest 
" ministers of state that ever existed, ^nd never tells a 
" lie ; nor v/ill she suffer the proudest Frenchraan, Dutch- 
*' man or Spaniard, to bamboozle or give her a saucy an- 
" swer." 

On the third day, a very singular object presented it- 
self; it was Helogoland, avast lofty perpendicular rock 
rising out of the ocean, and distant about forty -five miles 
from the nearest shore : it is only one jpAIq in circumfer- 
ence, yet upon its bleak and bladeless top, no less than 
three thousand people live in health, prosperity, and hap- 
piness. The hardy inhabitants subsist principally by- 
fishing and piloting, and are occasionally enriched by the 
destroying angel of the tempest, ivhen the terrified ob- 
server, looking down upon the angry storm, might, in the 
moving language of the clown in the Winter's Tale, ex- 
claim, " Oh ! the most piteous cry of the poor souls, 
" sometimes to see 'em and not to see 'em : now the ship 
" boring the moon with her mainmast, and anon swal- 
" low'd with yest and froth." But to the honor of the 
brave Helogolanders, thev never augment the horrors of 

B 2 



18 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chat. T. 

the enraged element. Humanity and honorable interest 
impel them gallantly to face the storm, and snatch the 
sinking mariner, and the sad remains of his floating for- 
tune, from the d^ep : they never suffer the love of gain 
to excite any other exclamation than that of thanks to 
God ; not that the storm has happened, but that the ocean 
has not swallo^ved up all th^ wreck from them. How un- 
like a body of barbarians Who infest the west of England, 
and prefer plunder to the preservation of life, and who 
have been'even known to destroy it, whilst struggling with 
the waves, for the sake of a ring or a bauble, and who are 
accustomed in the spring of every year, to speak af the 
last Hvreck s-cason as a good or a bad one, according to the 
violence or moderation of the preceding winter !* v. 

The Helogolanders are a fine healthy race of people, rei^: 
markably fair, live in small huts, and sleep on the shelves 
ranged one above another, and are governed by a chief 
who is deputed from the government of Denmark. Thejr 
are obliged to victual their island from the shore ! What 
SI spot for contemplation, to view 

** The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam, 
•* To be exalced with the threat'ning clouds!" 

We entered die river of Husum about four o'clock la 
the morning, in a stiff gale attended with rain. The. 
clouds in the w-est were dark and squally, with here and 
there a streak of copper co'.or ; in the east the sun was., 
gently breaking. WhDst I was contemplating this pic-' 
turesqiie appearance, and occasionally regarding the anx- 
ious eye and gesture of our Danish pilot, who by the aid 
of buoys and floating poles conducted us with admirable 
skill through a narrow, and the only navigable part, of the 
river, which Ees between two long lofty sand-banks ; the 
effect of the scene was encreased by an owl of yellow plu- 
mage, endeavoring to. reach our ship : the poor bird we 
supposed had been blown off the coast ; his v*ing touched! 
the extremity of the boom, but exhausted with fatigue, he 
dropped breathless in the water. A sailor, who was look- 
ing over the sides, v ith a quaint imprecation of mercy, 
pitied the dying bird. 

* I ?illude to the wreckers of Hope Cove, near Kingsbridge. 



Chat. 1.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 19 

The shore as we advanced looked low, fiat, and muddy, 
surmounted here and there with a solitary farm-house and 
wind-mill ; but the river presented a scene of considera- 
ble gaiety. Boats put oft from the little islands which ap-» 
pear on either side of the river, filled with hardy men, 
women and boys ; the ladies wore large black glazed paste- 
board bonnets, glittering in the sun : they were all goings 
to the great fair at Husum . We cast anchor about four 
miles from that town, whose tall spire appeared full in our 
view : a large boat filled with these good holiday folks 
came alongside, and received us, baggage and all. As we> 
proceeded up the river, v/hich became narrower as we 
advanced, and which seemed more like thin mud than 
water, through which we heavily moved by the assistance 
of punting poles, I waded through the tedium of the time 
by contemplating my companions, most of whom, with 
myself, were covered over below with the hatches to avoid 
a heavy shower of rain. They were all in their holiday 
dresses ; the men in blue or brown druggets, and large, 
round hats, and the women in coarse striped camlet gowns,, 
in which red was the prevailing color, with those vast 
shining bonnets before described, and slippers with high 
heels without any quarters : we were crowded together 
almost to suffocation. Our company was more augmentr 
ed than improved by pigs and poultry, and the various 
produce of the farm, amongst which I noticed some deli- 
cious butter. In the party was a fine blooming young 
Scotswoman, who had married a Helogolander : her ex- 
pressive dark eyes flashed with delight, to find herself 
seated near an Englishman : in her look was legibly writ^ 
ten the inextinguishable love of our country. 

Upon our landing, we were immediately addressed by 
a Danish centinel who was upon duty at the quay, and 
whose dress and appearance were very shabby ; he dis- 
patched one of his brother soldiers with us to the burgo- 
master, to notify our arrival and produce passports, thence 
to the secretary to procure others to proceed. 

A little money here had the same virtue which it pos- 
sesses in almost every other part of the globe, by produ- 
cing unusual energy in these subordinate ministers of 
government, and enabled us to sit down to an early din? 



so NOHTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1. 

ner at an English hotel, durhig which I was a little sur- 
prised at hearing one of our fellow-passengers, who was 
immediately proceeding to Hamburgh, frequently vocife- 
rate, " Is my waggon ready ?'* What a country, thought 
I, must this be, where a waggon is required to convey a 
man, and one too who was little bigger than his portman- 
teau 1 Observing my surprise, he informed mue, that the 
carriage of the country was called a Stuhlwaggon ; upon 
its driving up, I found that its body was very long and 
light, being formed of wicker work, and fixed to thin ribs 
of wood ; the bottom was half-filled with hay, a cross seat 
or stool was fastened by straps to the sides, and the whole 
mounted upon high slender wheels ; it runs very lightly, 
and is admirably adapted to the heaviness of the roads 
which are very deep and sandy. 

Soon after dinner I strolled through the fair, which was 
filled with peasantry from various parts of Holstein and 
Slesvig. The women, in their rude finery, reversed the 
ambition of their fair sisters on the other side of the 
water ; they v/ere strongly buckramed to the top of the 
neck, and exhibited no traces of the bosom ; but, to soften 
the seveiity of this rigid decorum in front, they presented 
such a projecting rotundity behind, that, to eyes which 
had been accustomed to gaze upon the symmetry of En- 
glish fair-ones, appeared truly grotesque, and awakened 
many a smile. 

The church, which is large and ancient, was upon this 
occasion disrobed of the sanctity of its character, and in its 
fretted aisles booths were erected, in which books and hab- 
erdashery were exposed to sale, and where I found some 
coarse copies of engraving from some of the pictures of 
Westail. In several places upon the continent, I v/itnes- 
sed, with no little degree of pride, a strildng predilection 
for the vrorks of this distinguished artist. Almost every 
article v/hich was exposed for sale was called English, al- 
though I am satisfied that many of them were never fash- 
ioned by English hands ; but the charm of the name has 
an influence every where ; its sound is attractive, and the 
very pedlar of the fair finds his account in its forgery. 
_ A. custom-house officer waited upon us at the inn to in- 
spect our luggage, but the dexterous introduction of a dol- 



Chap. 1.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2^t 

!ar into his hand, convinced him in a moment, from the 
mere physiognomy of our trunks, that they contained no- 
thing contraband ; — let him not be blamed, for his pene- 
tration was admirably correct. 

Before the river of Husum Ti^as choaked up with mud,- 
the town was a place of considerable commerce ; it is now 
principally filled with tradesmen and farmers ; and the 
removal of the packets to this place from Tonningen, has 
circulated a considerable quantity of money amongst the 
inhabitants. It is rather a large town ; lime trees grow 
before the houses, the roofs of which run very high, and 
present the appearance of steps ; these vast attics are ne- 
ver used but as lumber-rooms, and have a very disagreea- 
ble effect. There is a palace with gardens belonging to- 
the duke of Holstein, but they are unworthy of further 
notice. 

The gaiety of the day terminated with great sobriety ; 
there were many light hearts, but I believe not one aching 
head. In the evening, a crazy violin and drum allured 
nie into a public room, in which the merry peasants were 
dancing waltzes. Heavens 1 what movements 1 A French- 
man, v/ho resolves every thing into operatic effect would 
liave felt each particular hair stand erect, had he contem- 
plated the heavy solemnity of the performers. The fe- 
males looked like so many tubs turning round, and their 
gallant partners never moved their pipes from their 
mouths. 

Upon quitting this scene of phlegmatic festivity, I strol- 
led to the quay, Avhere the skippers were landing the car- 
riage, which a fine sprightly powerful fellow of an Eng- 
lish sailor, with scarce any assistance from the smoaking 
crowd who had assembled to viev/ it, put together in little 
more than an hour. The alertness and activity of the 
British tar, afforded a striking contrast to the sluggishness 
of the Danish seamen who surrounded him. As soon a& 
the carriage reached the inn, we proceeded to the post- 
house, and ordered fou4' horses, being one m.ore than v/e 
were compelled to take by the Danish post law, but na 
more than the weight to be dravv-n and the depth of the 
roads rendered necessary. The post was to Flensborg, 
distant five Danish or twenty -five English miles, and for 



512 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap.^v 

wliich we paid eight dollars, one marc. Of the coin and 
post regulations I shall speak in the next chapter. 

Thus having prepared every thing for our departure the 
next morning, we returned to the inn ; where in one of the 
front rooms we had not been seated long, before a pretty 
pale and interesting girl, whose age could not have ex- 
ceeded thirteen, entered with a trembling step, and pre- 
sented one of the gentlemen present with a note — ^the con- 
tents of it unfolded such a secret as must have shocked 
the soul of the most depraved libertine— it was written by 
her mother. We detained her miserable and devoted child 
until we had raised a little subscription for her, and dis- 
missed her with an involuntary exclamation of abhorrence 
against the parent. 

In the first step which an Englishman makes out of hi» 
own country, he is sure to meet with something to satisfy 
him that h€ cannot find a better. 



CHAPTER 11. 

4 

Dull mattera necessary to be known — TheviUage wonder — 
——Musical fiostiliions— Snaps— —Farm-houses and inn— 
The fiost delivered— 'A conspiracy-— Bolton'' s dollar — The 
little belt— Village bride — The great belt — Corsoer—Bar- 
dolph^s nose. 

THERE is scarcely a duller thing which an ardent tra- 
veller or reader can encounter, than the little detail 
of money matters which occur on the roa^d ; and I shall 
therefore, with all due dispatch, dispose of it upon the pre- 
sent occasion. 

In Slesvig and Holstein, the only Danish money recei- 
ved is the Danish specie dollar, and the notes of the banks 
of Slesvig and Holstein, as also those of the bank of Nor- 
way. The specie dollar contains sixty skillings, or so ma- 
ny English pence, of the currency of Slesvig and Hol- 
stejii), 9.nd at par is equal to five shillings English. The 



eHAP.2.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 23 

lix dollar of the currency of Slesvig and Holstein contains 
only forty-eight sldllings ; of course four specie dollars 
are equal to five rix dollars current money. The rrioney 
Is divided into skillings, marks, and dollars : _ 
16 skiilings make 1 mark. 

3 marks 1 rix dol , Slesvig and Holstein cur. 

3 marks 12 skil. 1 specie dollar. 
It will be adviseable not to take up more money than 
will be sufficient to last as far as the island of Fynen or 
Funen ; as the only money there received, and so on to the, 
capital, is the currency of Denmark Proper. It will be 
most convenient to take rix dollar notes instead of coin. 
It may be as well here to state the post regulations. If the! 
number of travellers exceeds three, they are compelled 
to take four horses. 

In Holstein and Slesvig as far as Hadersleb, a hprse is 
twenty skillings of that currency, per mile Danish, which 
is equal to five miles English ; the other charges are per 
station or post : thus, 

4 skillings Slesvig cur. for shrivepenge. 

4 Ditto for fetching horses from the field , 

4 Ditto to the ostler, 

4 Ditto to postillion. 

It is. usual, howeyer,to encrease this latter charge to one 
rix dollar per station. With respect to this charge two 
drivers are only considered as one. . 

Having procured all this essential information, the car- 
riage appeared at the door, surrounded by a crowd of gap- 
ing peasants, who gazed upon it as if they expected to see 
us mount in the air with it. As soon as we had passed 
the town-gate, we instantly dropped into a deep sand ; 
through which we ploughed our way at the rate of two 
miles and an half in an hour, and beheld on each side of 
us nothing but a dreary waste. Had not the cheering 
beams of the sun refreshed and supported us all the way, 
we must have suffered pretty severely under the pressure 
of a distemper which foreigners confine, and very justly, 
to Englishmen. Our driver was mounted on the near 
shaft-horse, drove four in hand in rope harness, and carri- 
ed, more for show than service, a prodigious long lash 



pi NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^. 

whip ; he was dressed in scarlet, with yellow facings, and 
wore a brass plate on his hat, on which was stamped 
« Christ'n 7." ; frora a string which was suspended over 
his right shoulder, depended his french horn, somewhat 
battered by long exercise, which he applied to his miouth 
with the most frightful consequences whenever we met a 
traveller, and with which, whenever v/e ascended a hill, 
he never failed to serenade our ears and those of his cattle, 
who, deafened by longwise, or having no taste for the con- 
£.oYd of sweet sounds, seklom turned their auricular or- 
gans towards this hoarse croaking tube. Thus did we 
■^nove in all the majesty of a menagerie upon the point 
,©f entering a town on a fair-day. 

Two or three times in the course of each post, our dri- 
ver begged to have a little snap money. Snaps is one of 
the earhest and most frequent words which a traveller will 
pick up in Denmark; in plain English it signifies a re- 
freshing glass of spirits. We always found our account 
in granting this request. 

The Danish driver is merciful to his horses : to equal- 
ize their labor, in the course of the station, he changes the 
situation of each of them. A whimsical fellow of this 
condition amused us not a little, by every now and then 
peeping into the carriage, or as he called it the ivaggon, 
to see that we and the luggage were all safe ; these men, 
whenever they stop to refresh themselves, feed their hor- 
ses with large slices of barley bread. We passed some 
neat farm-houses, having the barn with two large folding 
doors in the centre, the ofiices belonging to the farm on 
one side, and the farm-house on the other ; the whole up- 
on a ground floor, and under one ix)of. 

As we approached Flensborg, the country became more 
agreeable, and we observed the wonderful activity with 
which nature was every where exerting herself, in a cli- 
mate which so much confines her to time : it was then 
the 30th of May, and the ground had been covered with 
-snow only three weeks before, and some bitter winds ve- 
ry sensiby informed us that winter had not as yet retreat- 
ed very far. 

At a very clean inn where we dined, we found some ex- 
j^ellent red dried beef, sweet butter, good breads baked like 



Cbap.20 IjmRTHERN summer. 23 

English tops and bottoms, and miserable -uin du pays. In 
our dining-room the best china and glass tumblers made 
a gala show upon the tester of the bed, which gave a 
double capacity to the room. I was highly pleased to ob- 
serve, that whilst the postillion took very good care of 
himself, he did not neglect his horses. 

At eight in the evening we reached Flensborg, hav- 
ing accomplished twenty-live English miles in nine 
hours ; a tedious time, sufficient To make any traveller 
peevish who had been accustomed to the velocity of an 
English maiL It was solely owing to the great deptii 
of the roads, for upon better ground, our horses " were 
not holloAV pampered jades of Asia, which cannot go but 
thirty miles a day.*' 

As soon as we had entered the inn, our driver present- 
-ed us with a small printed paper, that directed the tra- 
veller to state his opinion of the conduct of the former^ 
which is afterwards submitted to the postmaster ; and, 
by an ordinance of government, if any cause of com- 
plaint arises, the postillion is punishable. 

Upon a travellers reaching the end of a Danish post, 
it will be lucky for him if he does not find his patience 
put to a trial, by having to wait in general an hour for 
horses to forward him, which, at the time of his arrival, 
are nibbling the blade in some distant field. Our inn 
was the post-house, which every where affords the best 
^yccommodations. 

Flensborg is a large commercial town, very neat and 
pleasantly situated ; it is well supplied v/ith excellent 
water from fountcuns, which are placed at cert^n intervals 
in the centre of the principal street : the houses are like 
those at Husum, with the addition of strong braces of 
iron. The view from the quay, the river, and the op- 
posite village, is very beautiful ; the language thus far 
is German, and the religion of the country throughout 
is Lutheran. The English chariot was still the object 
of admiration ; smiths thronged the yard to examine 
the springs, and waggon -builders to contemplate the 
wheels and body. The patent boxes of the former ex- 
cited uncommon astonishment. At the corner of the 
yard, the last beams of the setting sun threw an agreea- 

C 



25 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2. 

ble tint upon a variety of interesting faces, all waiting 
for intelligence — ^the friend, the lover, and the merchant, 
for the postman had just arrived, the 



-Messenger of grief 



Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some ; 

To him indifF'rent whether grief or joy. 

Houses in ashes, or the fall of stocks, 

Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet 

With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks. 

Fast as the periods from his fluent quill. 

Or charg'd with am'rous sighs of absent swains. 

Or nymphs responsive, equally affect 

His horse and him, unconscious of them all. 

When I had retired to my chamber, the constant dashing 
cf the fountain in the court-yard, the frequent crowing 
of a little hoarse bantam cock, two cats making violent 
Sove, and a party of foraging fleas, united their powers 
most successfully to keep " tired nature's sweet restor- 
er" from my lids the greater part of the night. In the 
raorning, at five o'clock, we entered the great road to 
Copenhagen, from the city of Slesvig, and proceeded 
fJong the shores of the Baltic, through a sandy anU drea- 
ry country ; our progress was now encreased to five En- 
ii:\i'6h. miles an hour. We found the population very 
thin, the land but little cultivated, and the solitary cot- 
tage, which appeared to cover more misery than indus- 
try, had rarely a little garden by the side of it. The only 
vegetables which we met with were snmall stinted aspar- 
agus and parsnips, both of which the good people here 
boil in their soup. The few houses v/hich we saw on 
the road side, were, however, neatly built, with a light 
brown brick, and thatched. The steeple and the body 
of the church were every where divided from each 
other ; whence their separation arose in Denmark can 
be no more accounted for, I should suppose, than their 
conjunction in England. 

Upon strolling into one of the church-yards, I remark- 
ed that their monuments were principally composed of 
a frame of an oblong square, divided by cross pieces of 
wood painted black, and the spaces between filled with 
atones. 



Chap. 2.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 27 

The country about Abenraac, a small fishing town, 
where v/e changed horses, was very pretty, and much re- 
sembled that beautiful slope of wood in Lord Borring- 
doh's park at Saltram, which parts the high road to Ply- 
mouth. The country from Abenraac to Hadersleb is 
hilly, woody, fertile and romantic. The cattle were every 
where tethered, or fastened by a cord to a circle of pas- 
ture. 

At Hadersleb, whilst dinner was preparing, we went 
to the Bank, to exchange our Holstein and Slesvig mon- 
ey for the currency of Denmark Proper, pre^ious to our 
embarkmg for the island of Funen. Here the exchange, 
which is governed by that of Hamburg, is always in fa- 
vorof thetraveiler going to Copenhagen. Foronehundred 
and thirty -five rix dollars Slesvig we procured one hun- 
dred and fifty -six current dollars and six skiiiings, which 
was at a premium of seventeen pounds per cent, in our 
favor. Upon our showing the banker one of the new 
dollars from Bolton's mint, he appeared to be much grat- 
ified with its beauty, and begged that we would permit 
him to exchange it ; a little favor, which we gladly 
granted him. 

On our return, we found a good dinner in a long room, 
painted of a leaden blue color, having the floor v/ell sand- 
ed, three little windows decorated with festoons of mus- 
lin, an old-fashioned chandelier threatening peril to those 
who passed under it, and two ancient portraits of a king 
and queen of Denmark, Avho looked very smirkingly 
upon each other. 

I niust not omit to introduce the reader to the kitchen, 
in which, in Denmark as well as in Germany, the fire- 
place is raised about two feet and a half high from the 
iioor, and very much resembles that of a blacksmith's 
forge ; the meat is baked, or, as they call it, roasted, in 
a sort of cheese-toaster, and having undergone the pre- 
vious operation of three parts boiling : such is a Danish 
inn. The traveller in this country would do v/ell to con- 
fine his supper solely to bread, butter, and eggs. The 
wine every where is very poor, and the beer detestable. 

•The peasantry appear to be clean and happy. It was 
pleasing to see, early in the morning, as we travelled, 



2S NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2, 

groupes of young milkmaids, whose cheeks glowed with 
the bloom of health, balancing their pails with great dex-- 
terity, and knitting and singing as they went. 

As we could save several tedious miles by crossing 
the Little Belt at its broadest part, we proceeded to 
Aversund instead of Snoghoi, where we found the coun-- 
try very undulating and beautiful, but the roads rather 
heavy. Nothing can be prettier than the situation of the 
post-house, with its gardens sloping to the water, to- 
which a bright sun, distinctly marking out the little island 
of Arroe to the south, and the greater one of Funen in 
front, distant about eight English miiles, added new 
charms. The boatmen^ with uncommon dexterity, in 
about ten minutes hoisted, by means of tackles, our car- 
riage entire and luggage into an open boat, and having a 
fair breeze, we crossed the Little Bslt m about an hour 
»nd a half, and landed at Assens. 

A stranger cannot but be surprised to see a king- 
dom so composed of islands. The province which we 
had just left notwithstanding the desolate appearance of 
some parts of it from the main road, is, on account of 
the independent spirit of its peasantry, the most valuable 
of the crown of Denmark, 

Rix 

Doll. Mark. Skills, 
The pass-age for^ourselves and carrage was 3 8 
To assistants get dng the latter into the boat 12 

At Assens, we for the first time, experienced the 
change of a large feather-bed, instead of a blanket and 
sheet. To an untravelled Englishman nothing can be 
more singular. In the morning, as the horses were put- 
ting toj a singular procession passed us : a young woman 
in gala, whose hair was stiffened almost to the consisten- 
cy of stucco with powder and pomatum, on which was 
raised a high cap of lace, decorated with a profusion of 
artificial flowei-s, and with a large nosegay of spring and 
artificial ilov/ers in her bosom, and a book in her hand, 
and turning-in her toes most abominably, passed in the 
most stately manner up the street, preceded by three 
girls in mob caps, decorated with little bits of silver and 
gold lace, aod in red jackets, each with a book in her 



[Chap. 2. NORTHERN SUMMER. 29 

hand, and followed by two old Women, holding books 
also. The fair heroine of this singular groitpe moved to 
me as she passed. She was proceeding to the church, 
where her bridegroom was counting the lagging mo- 
ments of her absence. The old and the young peeped 
out of the doors and windows as they passed. Heavens 
keep me from any thing like pomp or publicity on the 
marriage day 1 

- In this island, as I have before intimated, the cpin is 
provincial, thvis 

16skillings make 1 mark. 
6 marks 1 rix-dollar Danish currency. 

And one skilling of Holstein and Slesvig iB equal to tv.'^o 
of the currency of Denmark Proper. 

The post regulation as under : 
' 1 horse per Danish mile 2 marks Danish currency. 

For fetching horses per pair 6 skillings Danish. 

To the ostler 4 ditto. 

At Odensee, which is a large respectable town, an 
episcopal see, the richest in Denmark next to that of Co- 
penhagen, and the capital of the island, we dined ; there 
was nothing singular in our repast,, but that the fitst dish 
was manna soup. 

There is a public school here, where a small number 
of boys are educated and maintained gratuitously, and a 
gymnasium for students of sixteen years of age. The 
cathedral is an ancient pile of brick, and is remarkable 
for nothing more than containing the tombs of John and 
the sanguinary Christian II. who seized upon the crown 
of Sweden by the right of conquest, and, in a cold-blood- 
.ed massacre, put six hundred of the flower of her no- 
bility to the sword — ^that scene of slaughter is exquisite- 
ly displayed in the beautiful tragedy of Gustavus Vasa» 
published, in 1738, by Henry Brooke, esq. and with 
which I am sure my reader will be delighted. 

-Think upon Stockholm 



When Cristiern seiz'd upon the hour of peace, 
And drench'cl the hospitable floor with blood, 
Then fell the flow'r of Sweden, niighty names I 
Her hoary senators, and gasping patriots. 
The tyrant spoke, and his licentious band 
C 2 



so NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2. 

Of blood-train'd ministry were loos'd to ruin. 
Invention wanton'd in the toil of infants 
Stabb'd to the breast, or reeking on the points 
Of sportive javelins— Husbands, sons, and sirea 
With dying ears drank in the loud despair 
Of shrieking chastity. 

The thatch of the cottage in this island, and in most 
parts of the north, is bristled at the top with cross braces 
of wood, to keep it together, and has a very inferior ap- 
pearance to the warm compact neatness of the English 
thatch. The road from thenee to Nioborg is good, part- 
ly paved, and the country on all sides very picturesque. 
The lambs, in the flocks which we passed, had one foot 
fastened to the body by a piece of string. A custom so 
painful to the luckless objects was intended to fix them 
more closely to their dams, and, by abbreviating their 
exercise, to fatten them. 

I was much surprised at not seeing either in Denmark 
or any other part of the north that I visited, a single 
member of a very ancient family, the most useful, the 
most ill-treated and despised of any that moves upon all- 
fours, an ass. 

About nine o'clock in the evening we arrived at 
Nioborg, which is a small but handsome fortified town, 
containing about nine hundred inhabitants ; and deter- 
mined, as the Vvind was fair, to cross the Great Belt that 
night. We vrere there obliged to show our passports ; 
the c?4>tain of the passage -boat, on account of the late- 
ness of the hour, threw many difficulties in the way of 
our determination, which, however, the tender looks and 
eloquence of a French giil at the inn, aided by a little 
bribery on our part, effectually removed. Here the 
wheels of the carriage were obliged to be taken off, and 
after a delightful sail of about two hours and an half, we 
efi"ected our passage, winch is twenty English miles, and 
landed at Corsoer, in the metropolitan island of Zealand. 
As I passed over this mighty space of water I could 
not help reflecting with astonishment, that in the month 
of February 1658^it formed a bridge of ice for the hardy 
troops of the v/arlike and ambitious Charles X., who, 
contrary to the advice of his council of war, marched 



Chap. 2] NORTHERN SUMMER. 31 

over it to give battle to the Danes. During this tremen- 
dous passage a part of the ice gave way, and a whole 
squadron of the guards were imnciolated, not one of 
whom were saved, an order having been given that no one 
should attempt to assist his neighbor in such an emergen- 
cy upon pain of death. After passing the Little Belt in 
the same way, Charles Gustavus Adolphus obliged the 
Danes to make the peace of Roschild. This enterprise 
may be ranked amongst the most marvellous achieve- 
ments, and a recurrence to it will furnish ample means 
of occupation to the mind of the traveller during his pas- 
sage over these portions of the sea. 

It was midnight by the time v/e quitted the vessel ; 
the wind was very fi-esh, and the moon occasionally dart- 
ing in full effulgence from a mass of black clouds, illu- 
minated the front of an ancient castle, of little strength, 
near the key, which is the occasional residence of the 
crown prince. Upon the ramparts the cloaked centinel 
kept his solitary watch ; it was a " nipping and an eager 
air," and the scene, more than any other which I saw in 
Denmark, impressed the imagination with the similitu(^e 
of that 

'* In which the majesty of bury'd Denmark 
*' Did sometimes march." 

The good people at the post-house were in bed, but 
after many a rap at the door, it was at last opened by a 
figure, who most completely corresponded with the 
bard's description of Baixlolph. With Shakspeare we 
might have exclaimed, 

*' Thou art an admiral, thou bear'st thy lantern 

" In thy poop — but tis in the nose of thee 

" Thou art the knight of the burning lamp." 

As the night was very sharp, we made our way to the 
kitchen to catch a little warmth from its expiring em- 
bers ; but here we found we were distressing the coyness 
of a comely young cook, who had just quitted her bed 
to prepare something for our supper, and who was very 
uneasy until we had left her territory. After a comfort- 
able repastj Bardolph lighted us to bed. 



NORTHERN SUMMER. [Citaf. 1 



CHAPTER in. 

dDanish cIiaraCUr—*Gin~'-'Zealand — Tumftike gat€-'*->Milt 
' stones^'—^InteUigence qfivomen — The tomb of Juliana Ma- 
ria- — Husband intHgidng ivith his ivifc'— 'Margaret of 
Voldemar — The tnourmng nhother— 'Copenhagen,— >A Da- 
rdsh Dinner— Tomb of the heroes of the 2d of Afiril, 
1 $0 1 — The battle of that day-—^Lord JVei^on-^The brave 
young TVelmoe^. 

IT is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the go- 
vernment of Denmark is despotic. The Dane is a 
^ood natured, laborious character ; he is fond of spirits^ 
but is rarely intoxicated ; the severity of the climate 
naturalizes the attachment, and his deportment in the 
indulgence of it, is inoffensive. 

At breakfact at Corsoer a respectable Dane entered 
the room ; the landlady, a vast unv/ieldy good-humored 
creature in boots, without saying a word opened her cup- 
board, and taking dov/n a bottle of gin, presented her 
guest with a large Avine glass full, which he drank off", 
as if it had been so much cocoa milk, and immediately 
retired. 

The island of Zealand is said to be very luxuriant, 
and abounding with picturesque scenery ; its shores are 
lined with pretty towns, noble chateaus, and extensive 
and well-wooded domains, but upon the high road we 
did not observe, until oitr near approach to the capital, 
any indication of such exuberance and beauty ; although 
it was at this time the third of June, the gooseberries 
and currants were but just formed into berries. 

Upon our first post in this island, we met v/ith, for the 
first time in Denmark, a turnpike g^ate, which was erect- 
ed at the end of every Danish mile. As the roads were 
tolerably good, the impost v^as unobjectionable, which 
for a cariiage and four horses is six skillings Danish 
currency. This toll, in consequence of a recent ordi- 
nance, is paid before the traveller sets off, to the post- 
master, which saves the inconvenience of stopping. The 
turnpike -gate, like all the barrier gates of the north, is 



Chap. 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER: SS^ 

simply constructed of a long pole or bar, which turn» 
upon a pivot, fastened in a strong post, about four feet- 
high, placed on one side of the road : the end of this 
pole is charged at the end with a iM'eponderating weight 
of stpne or blocks of bood, so that when the post-master 
slackens the string or slight chain which attaches it hor- 
izontally to a post on the other side of the road, the bar 
rises sufficiently high to let a carriage pass under. 

The mile-stones here, the first which we say/ in the 
country, are formed of granite in the shape of a hand- 
some obelisk, and enumerate the miles and half miles, 
and b$ar the names of Christian and sometimes of Fred. 
V. In our route we saw several storks, who shewed no^ 
other symptoms of alarm when we approached them,, 
than awkwardly moving from us upon their red, tall, 
lean legs, upon which the body seemed mounted as upoii 
stilts. The country from Slagelse to Ringsted was very 
picturesque. The most ancient church in Denmark is;, 
in this town ; it is built of brick, with two low towers : 
there are some royal tombs here very ancient, which are 
principally filled with the ashes of the descendants of 
Sweyn II., and are level with the pavement. We pas- 
sed many forests of fine beech and oak, feathering the 
shores of several extensive and beautiful lakes. As we 
approached the capital we were a little surprised to find 
every thing become cheaper, and the horses and drivers 
leaner and shabbier, 

I must not Omit to state, for the honoi* of the female 
sex, that however we were at a loss to explain ourselves 
on account of our ignorance of the Danish language, 
and had exhausted our stock of gestures upon the men 
in vain, we always found that the women comprehended 
us v/ith one third of our pantomimic action ; and to the 
end of my days I shall gratefully and expaiimentally 
contend for the superior quickness of femyile compre- 
hension. 

We arrived on a Sunday at Roskild, which, according 
to Holberg, was formerly a city of many parishes, and 
contained within its v/ails twenty-seven churches, and an 
equal number of convents, though now a place of very 
little import. We went to the cathedral, a heavy pile of 



U NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap 3, 

brick covered with copper, with two spires, the most ancient 
part of which was erected under the auspices of Harold, 
the grandfather of Canute the Great, king of England and 
Denmark. The inside of this building owes its gran- 
deur to its size : the ceiling is stained with little sprigs 
of flowers in a vile taste, and are v/holly unenriched by 
those exquisite interlacings in the roof that form the 
principal beauty of Gothic architecture, the rudi- 
ments of which nature first imparted to our early fore- 
fathers, by placing before their imitative eyes the grace- 
ful intersections of a simple bower : the organ is upon 
an immense scale, and the tone very fine : the stops are 
moved by the feet of the organist. In a large octagon 
chapel, divided from the body of the cathedral by an 
iron grate, so finely wrought, and at a distance it resem- 
bles black gauze ; and in a subteranean vault, repose 
the remains of the royal family of Denmark, in several 
raised stone coffins, which are covered with black velvet 
palls, embroidered with small crowns of gold, falling in 
full drapery upon the floor. It is foreign to my purpose 
to enumerate them all. The most superb tomb is that 
of Juliana Maria, whose sanguinary conduct towards the 
hapless Queen Matilda and the unfortunate Counts Stru- 
ensee and Brandt, excited so much sensation some years 
since. As I gazed upon this gloomy depository of un- 
relenting jealousy and ambition, imagination raised the 
bleeding shades of those devoted men, consigned from 
the pinnacle of power and royal favor to the dungeon 
^nd the scaftbld. Alas 1 the common tyrant, in no wide 
lapse of time, has closed the eyes of the ruthless de- 
stroyer and her victims. < 

I must not omit the tomb of that wonderful woman 
Margaret of Voldemar, or, as she w^as styled wdth a de- 
rision which she well revenged, the king in fietticoats. 
She flourished in the 1 3th century, and bore upon her 
brow the crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. 
The northern Semiramis was destined to astonish the 
world by her marvellous exploits, and her very entrance 
into it was rendered somewhat extraordinary on account 
of her being the legitimate daughter of her father and 
mother. The fornaer becoming disgusted with her mo- 



Chap; 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER. S5 

ther, confined her in a castle, and about the same time 
fell violently in love with one of her dames (Thonneuri, 
and vf?iS a suitor for her favors ; the good-humored girl 
affected to consent, but imparted the assignation to the 
unhappy queen, was instrumentaL in conveying her iri 
disguise to the spot, and Margaret was the fruit of this 
singular intrigue. 

We were much gratified by seeing in one of the cha- 
pels the rich and beautiful mausoleums of Frederic H. 
and Christian III. ; they were designed and made in 
Italy, at an immense cost, by the order of Christian IV. 
The sovereigns are represented in recumbent postures 
the size of life, under a stone canopy, supported by Co- 
rinthian pillars ; the basso relievos which adorn the tomb 
of Frederick II. are exquisite pieces of sculpture. Here 
are also interred mari^y distinguished heroes, who have 
raised the glory of their country, and live in the page of 
history 

The beautiful ideas of Addison came into my mind — . 
t^ When I see kings lying by those who deposed them; 
*' whenlconsider'rivaiwitSjplacedsideby side; or the holy 
" men that divided the world with their contests and dis- 
" putes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the 
*' little competitions and debates of mankind ; when I 
" read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died 
" yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider 
'' that great day when we shall all of us be cotempora- 
" ries, and make our appearance together." 

As we crossed the church-yard to return to the inn, we 
were stopped by the appearance of an interesting young 
woman, who, Avith much grief in her countenance, Avas 
scattering slips of lilac and half-blown tulips and fine 
sand from a little basket which she held in her hand, up- 
on a fresh grave, which from its size, and from her looks, 
I conjectured to be that of her infant child. It was 
the custom of the country, and an affecting one it was. 

We met with nothing to denote our approach to the 
capital till we reached Fredericksberg, one of the king's 
country palaces, about two English miles from Copenha- 
gen ; the appearance of much bustle, and lounging lac- 
queys in scarlet and silver, announced that the court was 



m 'northern summer. [Chap. 5. 

here. As we rolled down from the bea\itiful eminence^ 
upon the open sujmmit of which the palace stands, the 
city, croAvned by its palace in ruins, the Sound, and the 
surrounding country, presented a delightful prospect. 
The road was crowded with people in their Sunday 
dresses and merry faces, hurrying to pass the evening in 
the gardens of Fredericksberg, which, with the permis- 
sion of his majesty, is the favorite resort of the people. 
We were detained a few minutes at the custom-house, 
adjoining the first dravz-bridge, over which and an inner 
one we passed to the gates of the capital, which we en- 
tered through a long arch, forming part of the ramparts. 
As we approached Lubel's hotel, to which we were 
recommended, we passed by the walls of the royal palace, 
which bore ample and afflicting testimony to the colossal 
size and magnificence which must have formerly dis- 
tinguished it, before it fell a victim to the flames in 1794. 
Upon our visiting this splendid pile, after dinner, we 
found by an inscription remaining undefaced, that it was 
raised by Christian VI. out of his own private purse, 
without pinching Ins subjects, and cost six millions of 
dollars : it stands in an island formed by a canal, and has 
several gates ; the principal entrance is of wrought iron, 
and has a noble effect : the front has twenty -five enor- 
mous windows in a line, and is composed of six stories, 
three of which are upon a large, and the remaining three 
upon a small scale. This front is three hundred and 
sixty -seven feet long, the lateral sides three hundred and 
eighty nine, and the elevation one hundred and fourteen ; 
all the grand apartments of state were upon the fourth 
story ; the court is surrounded with two wings of piazza 
twelve feet deep, and on each side are stables for saddle 
and carriage horses, which are arched : these have 
escaped the fury of the conflagration, and are truly mag- 
nificent ; the racks of that which holds forty-eight 
horses, are of copper, and the pillars which separate the 
stallsare of brick stuccoed. In another we observed the 
racks and columns were of Norwegian marble ; the 
floor of the stalls is of stone, and the breadth of each is 
six feet. The court is three hundred and ninety feet 
Jong, and three hundred and forty in its greatest breadth ; 



Chap. 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 3^ 

the pilastres are of the composite order, and the columns 
ionic ; there are also two lateral courts which are sur- 
rounded with buildings of two hundred and forty-five 
feet by one hundred and six. The stable to the left is 
-divided by the riding-house, which is one hundred and 
seventy-six feet by fifty -six, and lighted by fifteen cross- 
bar windows, with a gallery for the royal family and 
spectators, and has altogether a very grand appearance. 
Here all the branches of the royal family were formerly 
lodged : so rapid was the fury of the conflagration, and 
such the panic which it inspired, that but little of the 
treasure of its pictures, furniuire, and gorgeous decora- 
tions could be saved. Of the internal magnificence of 
this palace, some idea may be formed by the following 
description of the ritta saal or knight's saloon : it was 
<>ne hundred and eighteen feet long by fifty-eight, ^was 
lighted by day by nine windows, and at night by three 
lustres which contained more than twelve hundred. wax 
lights : on each side was a gallery richly gilded and 
supported by forty -four columns of cinnamon wood, the 
bases and capitals of which were also richly gilded : an 
artist of the name of Abilgaad was commissioned to embel- 
lish the hall with twenty-three large paintings, from sub- 
jects arising from the Danish history, at one thousand rix 
dollars a-piece. The library of the king, which suffered 
much by the fire, contained one hundred and thirty thou- 
sand volumes and three thousand manuscripts. The 
palace was too enormous for that of the capital and kmg- 
dom, and forms a striking contrast to the present resi- 
lience of the royal family. 

Whilst I was contemplating these stupendous remains, 
^ splendid English vis-a-vis dashed by, drawn by a pair 
of noble greys, which, with a profusion of gold lace upon 
the coats of the coachman and footman, attracted the no- 
tice and surprise of the good people of Copenhagen, who 
had never even seen their beloved Crown Prince in such 
finery : it was the equipage of a foreign quack doctor, 
who had had the good fortune to live and flourish in En- 
gland in an age of pills, 

Copenhagen is a small but very neat city, its circum- 
ference between four and five English miles ; the streets 

D 



53 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. 

are broad and handsome ; the houses, of which there 
are about four thousand, exclusive of the quarter belong- 
ing to the sailors, and garrisons for three regiments, are 
generally of brick stuccoed to resemble stone, and some 
are of free-stone, and in an elegant style of Italian archi- 
tecture : the shops are in the basement story, and by ma- 
king no prominent appearance, do not disfigure the beau- 
ty of the rest of the building. Such is the case upon 
every part of the Continent which I have visited. In 
England every tradesman's shop is the raree show of the 
street, and perhaps it is in allusion to this as much as 
to any other cause, that our neighbors on the other side 
of the channel, have pronounced us to be a nation of 
shopkeepers. The streets are divided by canals, which 
afford great facility to the transport of goods, but have 
narrow and inconvenient foot-paths : the population is 
estimated at eighty -two thousand. La rue de Goths is 
:j. beautiful street, and is about three quarters of an En- 
glish mile long. The Kongens nye Tow or King's place, 
which is also the m.arket place, is a noble, spacious, irre- 
♦^rular area, adorned v. ith many fine houses, several of 
^viiich have been raised since the late fire. The only 
theatre in the city is here : it was not open during our 
stay. This building is detached, small, but handsome 
without, and within is elegantly decorated : in the sea- 
son, the performers play four times in the week, alter- 
nately opera and play, w^hich is generally in the language 
of the country. On account of the vast number of per- 
sons who have free admission to it, amongst whom are 
all marine and land officers, the receipts are but very lit- 
tle, and the deficiency, which is supplied by the king, 
generally amounts to about one hundred thousand rix 
dollars per annum. Upon the whole the court is not a 
very munificent patron of the drama, and the performers 
seldom exceed mediocrity. In the middle of the market- 
place is an equestrian statue in bronze of Christian V. 
but too deficient in merit to attract the notice of a travel- 
ler. One of the large buildings in this place is the cas- 
tle of Charlottenberg, part of which is devoted to the 
royal academy of painting, architecture, and sculpture ; 
it has eight professors and four masters ; the day for the 



Chap. 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER- 5# 

annual distribution of the prizes is the 31st of March^ 
the birth-day of the prince, Frederic, who is the patron. 
Those pupils who obtain the golden medal are sent to 
travel at the expense of the crown* Such of the produc-* 
tions of the pupils and professors as I saw did not excite 
a very high-opinion of the arts in Denmark. 

No respectable stranger can enter Copenhagen with- 
out speedily becoming the object of its frank, and gener- 
ous hospitality. The day after our arrival enabled us to 
partake of the hearty profusion of a Danish dinner ; it 
was given at the country house of one of the most res- 
pectable inhabitants of the city, and appeared in the fol- 
lowing succession : soups top and bottom, Norwegian 
beef boiled, ham strongly salted, fish, pigeons, fowls, 
stewed spinnage, and asparagus ; the meat is always 
cut into slices by the master of the house, and handed 
round by the servants. Etiquette proscribes the touch- 
ing of any particular dish out of its regular course, al- 
though the table may be groaning under the weight of 
its covers ; this ceremony is occasionally a little tanta- 
lizing. Creams, confectionary, and dried fruits followed : 
the wines were various and excellent. Our party was 
composed of English, Norwegians, Flemish, Swiss, Rus- 
sians, Danish and French : would to heaven that their 
respective nations could for ever be as cordial and joy- 
ous as was this chequered collection of their merry na- 
tives 1 The repast lasted a formidable length of time : 
it was two hours of hard stuffing in a fog of hot meats. 
The appetite oi the fair ones present, v/as far, I might 
say very far from being puny or fastidious, but in the 
homely phrase, what they eat did them good. 

The Danish ladies are e?i bon jioint^ and possess that 
frank and generous countenance, which, the moment 
the eye sees, the he?al understands and loves ; they 
much resemble tlie higher class of Wouvermann's fig- 
ures, and very largely partake of that gay good humor, 
which is so generally the companion of a plump and 
portly figure. Having said so much in their favor, 
which they eminently deserve, I cannot help hinting that 
they are not so attentive to neatness of dress as their 
neighbors ; they want such a man as Addison to rally 



40 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5\ 

them with his delicate satire out of a slovenly habit, 
which induces them, when they buy a gown, almost al- 
ways to. prefer a dark cotton, because it does not want 
iuashi7ig. The Danish ladies would immediately feel 
the force of the remark, without being offended at its 
freedom. They speak English with its proper accent^ 
as well as French and German fluently. The English 
language forms a prominent part of female education. 

Upon my complimenting a Danish lady on her accu- 
rate knowledge of the English language, she said, " We 
" are obliged to learn that, and French and German, m 
" our onvn defence.^ otherwise we should frequently be ob- 
*' liged to sit mute, which you know is a very unpleasant 
" situation for any woman, for beyond the islands,*'mean-> 
ing Zealand and Funen, " our language, which is a dia- 
" lect of the Teutonic, is not understood." This I found 
afterwards verified : upon my return to Holstein from 
Prussia, a Danish sergeant in drilling a recruit from the 
former place, was obliged to speak to him in German . 

Here, as in France, the company rise and retire with 
the lady of the house. In the garden we found coffee 
and a droll fellow of a wandering mendicant Norwegian 
who occupied sans cerernonie one of the garden seats, and 
upon his rustic guitar had collected the little folks of th« 
family round him, who were dancing to some of the wil- 
dest and sweetest sounds that ever issued from the touch 
of simplicity. 

On our return to the city, and about a mile from it, a 
turfed hillock of small poplars attracted our notice : it 
was the national tonib of the heroes who fell in the mem- 
orable battle of Copenha.gen roads on the second of Aprils 
18C1, and stood in a meadow about two hundred yards 
from the road, and looked towards the Crown battery. 
As we approached it, we sav/ a small luonumental obe- 
lisk which was raised to the memory of Captain Albert 
Thurah, by the Ci'own Prince. It appeared by the in- 
scription, that during the heat of that sanguinary battle 
a signal was made from one of the l>lock ships, that all 
the officers on board were killed ; the Crown Prince, 
who behaved with distinguished judgment and compo- 
sure during the whole of that terrific and anjdous day, 



Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 41 

and was giving his orders on shore, exclaimed "Avho 
will take the command ?" The gallant Thurah replied, 
" I will, my Prince,'* and immediately leaped into a boat, 
and as he was mounting the deck of the block ship, a 
British shot numbered him amongst the dead, which 
formed a ghastly pile before him^ and consigned his spi- 
rit and his glory to the regions of immortality. He was 
a young man of great promise. It is thus that death 
often 

Strikes the poor peasant ; he sinks in the dark. 
Nor leaves e'en the wreck of a name, 
He strikes the young warrior, a glorious mark. 
He sinks in the blaze of his fame. 

As the battle under all its circumstances was as awful 
and affecting as any in the English and Danish history, 
the reader will I am sure feel no reluctance minutely to 
contemplate the larger tomb which first attracted our 
notice : it is a pyramidal hillock, neatly turfed and plan 
ted with sapling poplars, corresponding with the number 
of ofilccrs v/ho fell. At the base of the principal front 
are tomb stones recording the names of each of these offii 
cers and their respective ships. A little above is an ob- 
elisk of grey northern marble, raised upon a pedestal of 
granite bearing this inscription : 

To the memory of those u^ho fell for their country^ their 

grateful fellQ~.v citizens raise this monument^ 

Afiril 2, 1801. 

And beneath, on a white marble tablet, under a wreath 

of laurel, oak, pjid cypress bound together, is mscribed : 

The wreath tvhich the country bestows never ivithers over 
the grave of the fallen warrior. 

The whole is enclosed in a square palisado : as a nation- 
al monument, it is too diminutive. 

The next day I visited the spot where so much blood 
v/as shed. A young Danish officer upon the Crown 
battery obligingly pointed out the disposition of the ships, 
and spoke of the battle with great impartiality. From 
the position of the British fleets, before the squadron un- 
der Ijord Nelson bore down, and rendered his intention 

D 2 



42 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap.^« 

indubitable, the Danes were firmly of opinion that the 
British commander intended to proceed either to Cal- 
scrona or Revel, and made no preparation for defence ; 
their ships were lying in ordinary, they therefore trust- 
ed solely to their block ships and batteries. 

On that day the hero of the Nile surpassed those 
achievements, which an admiring and astonished world 
conceived must for ever remain without imitation as they 
had been without example, in the annals of the British 
navy. Favored by a fortunate shift of wind, and an 
extraordinary elevation of the tide, which at the time 
M^as higher than the Danes had long remembered it, he 
place'd his unsupported squadron, and as it is said with 
an iinobsevued signal of retreat flying at the mast head 
of the ship of the chief in command, in a most advanta- 
geous and formidable position. The citizens of Copen- 
hagen in a moment flew to their posts ; all distinctions 
were lost in the love of their country. Nobles and me- 
chanics, gentlemen and shopmen rushed together ia 
crowds to the quays ; the sick crawled out of their beds, 
and the very lame were led to the sea side, imploring to 
be taken in the boats, which were perpetually going oif 
with crowds to the block ships. A carnage at once tre- 
mendous and novel only served to encrease their enthu- 
siasm. What an awful moment ! The invoked ven- 
geance of the British nation, with the fury and velocity 
of lightning, was falling with terrible desolation upon 
a race of gallant people, in their very capital, whose 
kings were once seated upon the throne of England, and 
in the veins of whose magnanimous prince flowed the 
blood of her august family. Nature must have shudder- 
ed as she centemplated such a war of brethren : the 
conflict was short, but sanguinary beyond example ; in. 
the midst of the slaughter the heroic Nelson dispatched 
a flag of truce on shore with a note to the Crown Prince^ 
in which he expressed a wish that a stop should be put 
to the further effusion of human blood, and to avert the 
destruction of the Danish arsenal and of the capital, 
which he observed that the Danes miust then see were 
at his mercy. He once more proposed their withdraw- 
ing from the tripje league, and acknowledging the supre-^ 



Chap, 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 4$ 

macy of the British fla^. As soon as the Prince's answer 
was received a cessation of hostilities took place, and 
Lord Nelson left his ship to go on shore. Upon his ar- 
rival at the quay he found a carriage which had been 
sent for him by Mr. D., a merchant ©f high respectabil- 
ity, the confusion being too great to enable the Prince 
to send one of the royal carriages ; in the former the 
gallant admiral proceeded to the palace in the octagon, 
through crowds of people, whose fury was rising to 
frenzy, and amongst whom his person was in more im- 
minent danger than even from the cannon of the block 
ships ; but nothing could shake the soul of such a man. 
Arrived at the palace in the Octagon he calmly descended 
from the carriage amidst the murmurs and groans of the 
enraged concourse, which not even the presence of the 
I>anish officers who accompanied him could restrain . The 
Crown Prince received him in the hall and conducted 
him up stairs, and presented him to the King, whose 
long-shattered state of mind had left him but very little 
sensibility to display upon the trying occasion. The 
objects of this impressive interview were soon . adjusted, 
to the perfect satisfaction of Lord Nelson and his ap- 
plauding country ; that done, he assumed the gaiety and 
good-humor of a visitor, and partook of some refresh- 
ment with the Crown Prince. 

During the repast Lord Nelson spoke in raptures of 
the bravery of the Danes,, and particularly requested the 
Prince to introduce him to a very young officer, whom 
he described as having performed wonders during the 
battle, by attacking his own ship: immediately under her 
lower guns. It proved to be the gallant young Wei- 
moes, a stripling of seventeen ; the British hero em- 
braced him with the enthusiasm of a brother, and delicate- 
ly intimated to the Prince that he ought to make him an 
admiral, to which the Prince very happily replied, " If, 
my Lord, I were to make all my iDrave officers admirals, 
I should have no captains or lieutenants in my service." 
This heroic youth had volunteered the command of a 
praam, which is a sort of raft, carrying six small cannon, 
and manned with twenty -four men who pushed off fron^ 
sJiore, and in the fury of the battle placed themselves 



44 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 3. 

tinder the stern of Lord Nelson's ship, which they most 
successfully attacked, in such a manner that although 
they were below tlie reach of his stern chasers, the Bri- 
tish marines made terrible slaughter ainongst them : 
twenty of these gallant men fell by their bullets, but their 
young commander continued knee-deep in dead at his 
post, until the truce was announced. He has been hon- 
ored, as he most eminently deserved to btJ, with the 
grateful remembrance of his country and of his Prince, 
who, as a mark of his regard, presented him with a me- 
dallion commemorative of his gallantry, and has appoint- 
ed him to the command of his yacht, in which he makes^ 
his annual visit to Holstein. The issue of this contest 
was glorious and decisive ; could it be otherwise, when 
its destinies were committed to Nelson ? 

To shov/ how brittle must be the bands of a confede- 
racy of powers, whose jealousy and dislike is ever un- 
happily in proportion to their proximity, the Sv/edes very 
composedly contemplated the battle from their hills, and 
• appeared to lose all sensation of their share of its mor- 
tifying results in the humiliation of a rival country. So 
np.ture pulls the strings of a little man and a great nation ; 
the latter is only the larger puppet, and requires more 
strength to put it in motion. 

La place Frederic, or the Octagon, containing the pal- 
aces of the royal family, and where Lord Nelson had the 
audience that I have just mientioned, is composed of 
four small palaces all uniform, each having two wings : 
four very noble streets, principally inhabited by the no- 
bility, lead to this place : the grand entrance is through 
a gate composed of double rov/s of Corinthian pillars and 
a rich entablature ; one of the streets is terminated by 
the harbor, and the other by the church of Frederic, 
which has been long left unfinished ; it has the appear- 
ance of an elegcint design, and reminded me, both hy its 
condition and style of architecture, of L'Egiise de Made- 
line at Paris. In the centre of the Octagon is an eques- 
trian statue of Frederic V. in bronze, by Saly ; it was 
erected in 1769 by the Danish East India Company, and 
is said to have cost 80,000/. An Englishman cannot 
help remarking the slovenly appearance of the grass, 



Chap. 4:] NORTHERN SUMMER. 4^ 

v/hich i3 here permitted to shoot up through the stones, 
and particularly within the railing of the statue : the 
soldiers who are always lounging about the palaces, 
would remove the evil in almost the time that I hav*^ 
taken to comment upon it. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Valor /acetlous— ^Gallery of paintings-^Curiosities^-^Tych^ 
Brake* s golden nose — The gm'den of FredeHcsberg—' 
The croivn prince— ^The fashionable schoolmaster and lit-' 
tie baronet— 'Grateful fieamnt~-^Religion'—-]Lxc client laity 
--—The burgomaster and Canary bird — The hermit of 
Dronningaard— -^Quickness of -vegetation — The prisoner' % 
son-— Palace of Rosenberg— *Table d'hote— -^Dr oil miscon^ 
cepiion of the English ladies— 'Raup house — Dutch toivn. 

THERE is something very pleasant in contemplating 
the most inconsiderable actions, even the little 
badinage of great men. I forgot in my last chapter ta 
mention the playful good-humor which Lord Nelson dis- 
played soon after the battle of Copenhagen roads. By 
the ship which conveyed his dispatches to England, he 
sent a note to some respectable wine -merchants to whom, 
he was indebted for some wine, in v/hich he sportively 
said that, " he trusted they would pardon his not having 
" sooner sent a checque for his bill, on account of his 
'» having been lately much engage d^ 

In one of the wings of the burnt palace, to which the 
fiames did not extend, the gallery of pictures and muse- 
um of curiosities are placed. In the former we found a 
few excellent pictures, and particularly noticed a Jesus 
betrayed, by Michael Angelo ; a naked Venus, in a very 
singular posture, by Titian ; a good Vv^oman, by Leonar- 
do de Vinci ; the Holy Family, by Raphael ; a dead 
Christ on the cross, by Rubens ; adjoining to this is an 
unaccountable picture upon a large scale, the subject 



46 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4, 

Fallen Angels : the artist, with singular whim, has sub" 
stituted butterflies for fig-leaves. 

In the cabinet of curiosities is a very ingenious inven- 
tion for tranquillizing the fears of jealous husbands ; a 
stuffed stag, said to have lived several centuries ^ a lion 
and bear ; there is here also a celestial globe made by 
Tycho Brahe, who was sent to Copenhagen by his father 
in the sixteenth century to study rhetoric and philosophy, 
but the great eclipse of the sun on August the 21 sty 
1 562, engaged him to study astronomy. He wa^ the in^ 
ventor of a new system of the world and had some fol- 
lowers, but it is said that his learning made him sufier- 
stitious, and his philosophy irritable^ to such a degree that 
in a philosophical dispute the argument rose to such a 
pitch of personal violence that he lost his nose, which 
he supplied by a gold and silver one admirably construct- 
ed ; he was also very fond of Automata, and the reputa- 
tion which he obtained of a conjurer. 

I was much pleased with the convivial cup of the cel- 
ebrated Margaret of Valdemar ; it had ten lips, which 
were marked with the respective names of those whom 
she honored with her intimacy, who were the companions 
of her table, and were permitted to taste of the Tuscan 
grape out of the same vessel. There are here also some 
exquisite carvings in wood, by a Norwegian farmer, with 
a common knife ; some mummies badly preserved ; a 
piece of amber weighing more than twenty -seven pounds, 
found in Jutland ; lustres of amber ; several models of 
ships in amber, ivory, shell, and mother of pearl ; beau- 
tiful works of ivory ; a toilet of amber of surprizing 
workmanship ; a great lustre of the same, with twenty- 
four branches, made by M. Spengler. A compleat closet 
filled with bits of wood, carved by the peasants of Nor- 
way, who are extremely expert in this v/ork ; a portrait 
of Denner ; a bit of ivory, prettily worked by Queen 
Louise, mother of the present King ; others of the same 
kind, by Pierre Legrand; the emperors Leopold, Rodolph 
II. Sec. ; Jesus Christ on the cross, carved in wood, of so 
fine a v/orkmanship that it must be seen through a mag- 
nifying glass, it is attributed to Albert Durer ; a carriage 
with six horsesji of an inconceivable amallness j a great 



Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 47 

jug of ivory 5 with a triumph of Bacchus of a very fine 
workiTianship, by Jacob Hollander, a Norwegian ; the 
descent from the cross, a superb piece, by Magnus Berg ; 
several figures dressed in foreign dresses, Indian, Chinese, 
Sec. ; great vases of gold and silver ; a flagon or decanter 
itjf'rock chrystal, very beautifully engraved; a horn of 
gold, found in Jutland, in 1639, the inscription on which 
has puzzled the learned; a bust of Brutus in bronze ; 
many precious antiquities of the country ; a portrait of 
Charles XH. ; the skull of archbishop Absalom, with his 
dress ; the prelate's skull reminded me of the ridiculous 
question which a lady put to one of the librarians of the 
British mviseum, " Pray sir, have'nt you a skull of Oli- 
ver Cromwell here ?" " No, madam," replied the man 
t)f learning and antiquity ; " Deare me," said she, " I 
wonder at that, for they have a very fine one in the mu- 
seum at Oxford." There are also some curious religious 
utensils, v/hich were used by the ancient natives of the 
north. Such is a sketch of the Danish gallery and mu- 
seum, y/hich is worthy the notice of the traveller. 

In order to Iiave a better view of the city, upon leav- 
ing the museum, I ascended by an external spiral stair- 
case, the top of the church in Christiaa-haven, one of the 
quarters of Copenhagen ; from this eminence the view 
was delightful ; the city, its palaces, ''churches, docks, 
arsenals, and the little Dutch town which lay about two 
English miles off ; the roads, the shores of Sweden, and 
the Sound embellished with ships, lay like a map below 
me. Immediately underneath us we saw a funeral pro- 
cession of a prmcipal inhabitant, proceeding to that 
*^ dark and narrow house, whose mark is one grey 
stone ;" the coffin, covered with a pall, was placed upon 
a bier, surmounted with a canopy, which moved upon four 
little broad wheels, and was drawn by a pair of horses. I 
regretted to observe that the Danes pursue the same per- 
nicious custom which obtains in England of burying their 
dead in the city. There are people who live in the tow- 
er of the church, to give signals in case of fire breaking 
out, of which the Danes have a great dread, for no peo- 
ple have suffered more from its destructive visitation. 
A precautionary warning to the inhabitants to take care of 



i^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. 

their fires and candles, and a long string of bkssings'upon 
the heads of all the royal family of Denmark, constitute 
the elaborate subject of the watchman's comment after he 
has announced the time. Nothing can be more annoy- 
ing to a fatigued stranger than his noisy and melancholy 
ditty every half-hour ; but the police is admirable, and 
the city safe at all hours of the night. This church was 
the only one which was worthy of notice. The Lu- 
theran religion seldom arrays herself in the graceful 
drapery of the arts ; confiding in the purity of her pre- 
cepts, and the devotional spirit of her unaspiring follow- 
ers, she is satisfied if her shed but repel the storm of the 
heavens ; nor does she seek to attract the wanderer to 
her temple, by the elegant and expressive powers of the 
architect, the painter, and the statuary. The Exchange 
is a large ancient building of brick : v/ithin are little 
shops, very much resembling Exeter Change, in Lon- 
don, but more commodious and handsome. At the en- 
trance nearest to the burnt palace the merchants assem- 
ble. In this quarter of the town there are some excel- 
lent pastry shops, where the English and other foreign 
news-papers are taken in. The beautiful appearance of 
the evening attracted us to Fredericsberg, the palace of 
which is small, and stands upon an eminence ; the gar- 
dens slope from its terrace : they are confined, but 
tastefully ari'anged ; the Crown Prince shares the de- 
light they afford in common with the meanest of his 
subjects. 

As the King resided at this time in the palace we could 
not see it, and from all that I could learn we had not 
much occasion for regret. He passes much of his time 
here, wiiich he divides between billiards, romances, and 
his flute ; he enjoys good health, but his mind is so infirm 
that his royal functions seldom exceed the signing of 
state papers. I was much disappointed in not having the 
honor of being presented to the Crown Prince, who at 
this time was in Holstein with that able and excellent 
minister Count Bernstoff. The Prince is virtually the 
sovereign of the kingdom, as his father has for many 
yeaes presented only the phantom of a king. The mis- 
fortunes of the august mother of the Prince, his virtues 



and his wisdom unite to render him very interesting to 
sin Englishman. In person I was informed that he was 
short and slender, his eyes are of a light blue, his nose 
aqiiiline, his face singularly fair, and his hair almost 
white ; his mind is very capacious, cultivated, and active : 
his disposition is very a-miable ; and in the discharge of 
his august duties he is indefatigable. He is an enemy to 
dissipation and parade, and avoids the latter upon ail but 
necessary occasions ; his virtues constitute his guard of 
honor, and excite distinction and respect wherever he 
moves : in his youth he was a prince of great promise, 
and every blossom has ripened into fruit. At the age of 
sixteen he effected a revolution in the councils, and crush- 
ed the powerful ambition pf the sanguinary Juliana Ma- 
■tia, and consigned her intj-iguinj^ and turbulent spirit to 
the shades and seclusion ^f F^iedensberg, by a master- 
piece of discretion, eloquence, and policy. 

If the Prince has any fault, it is that the does not suffi- 
ciently oppi'eciate the genius of his country, which is 
more commercial than military. Impelled by a martial 
enthusiasm, he appears to consider the encouragement of 
commerce, as an object less worthy of his notice, than 
the discipline, and perhaps superfluous augmentation of 
his troops, whose energies will in all human probability, 
be long confined to defensive operalion ; yet in another 
mode this prince has sagaciously consulted the interests 
•of his country and the happiness of his people, by ab- 
staining from any material participation in those conflicts, 
-which have so long deteriorated the interests of the rest 
of Europe. Small in size and resources, Denmark haa ' 
every thing to lose and nothing to gain. A dwarf amongst * 
giants, had she moved in the general confusion, she - 
-would have been crushed by some powerful foe, or trod- 
den upon by some ponderous ally. THe King's daughter 
is married to the Prince of Augustenbourg, and is spoken 
of as a very beautiful and accomplished woman. The 
daughters of Prince Frederic, the brother of the king, and - 
the favorite son of Juliana; Maria, are also much beloved 
and admired. 

The court days in summer are few : in winter there ii* 
'51 kvee once a fortnight : on these days there are supDers, 

E 



go NOF.THERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. 

when strangers, upon the presumption of their having 
the rank of Colonels, are invited. At this meeting the 
number of men and women is equal, and all precedence, 
except that of the royal family, is determined by drawing 
lots as at a bull in England. In the Vvinter, when people 
aggregate from necessity together, the socialmeetings in 
Copenhagen are said to be very frequent and delightful, 
and the ministers are very polite to strangers well intro- 
duced. 

The acdon of the 2d of April was of too short a dura- 
tion to produce any other impression on the country 
than a temporary irritation, and the event of that day 
taught her the impolicy and danger of departing from a 
state of unequivocal neutrality ; at the same time it dis- 
played to the world what never yet was questioned, the 
valor and enthusiastic patriotism of the Danes. It will 
be considered, however, as somewhat singular, that for 
two successive years, they commemorated the return of 
that day, as a day of victory. A whimsical Dane adopted 
another mode of softening the a.ftair, by endeavoring to 
prove, what was his own irremovable conviction, that 
Lord Nelson v/as of Danish extraction. They now, how- 
ever confine themselves to the glory of a gallant but una- 
vailing resistance, and in a little lapse of time their love 
for the English will return to its former channels. 

The conduct of England upon this m.emorable occa- 
sion, reminds me of the policy of a certain fashionable 
school-master who had the care of three pupils of dis- 
tinction, a duke, a viscount, and a baronet ; the boy of 
the highest rank, Avho was the oldest and the most mis- 
chievous, during the absence of the learned doctor, pre- 
vailed upon his comrades to spend an evening at a fash- 
ionable bagnio ; the doctor unexpectedly returned in the 
interim, and upon discovering where his pupils had been, 
felt a reluctance in wounding the high feelings of the 
duke and viscount, and visited the sins of all three upon 
the hapless lower seat of honor of the poor little baronet. 
Thus Russia and Sweden led Denmark into the northern 
confederacy against the supremacy of the British flag, 
and Lord Nelson whipped the latter for the presump- 
tion of all the parties to the said league. Denmark has 



Chap. 4.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 51 

reaped the fruits of her neutrality, and without fatiguing 
the reader by a long string of comparative exports and 
imports, nothing can be clearer than that her interests 
have been in a state of progressive amelioration for seve- 
ral years past. The radical emancipation of her peasant- 
ry has remunerated her with a merited reward, the love 
of a free people, and the happy results of unshackled en- 
terprize. This blessing has not only been felt, but ex- 
pressed. 

A few miles from the capital, on one side of the pub- 
lic road, is a plain and simple monument, expressive of 
the condition of those who raised it : it was erected by the 
peasants of the late Count Bernstoff, in gratitude for their 
liberation : 

'Tis liberty alone that gives the flow'er 

Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume i 

And we are weeds without it. Cowper. 

Curiosity led me one day into the principal court of 
judicature : it was a handsome large room, in a range of 
buildings in which the governor of the city resides : the 
throne was in front ; twelve judges presided attired in 
rich costume : there were only two advocates present, 
v/ho wore embroidered capes and blue silk gowns. The 
laws of Denmark, with an exception to the forest laws, 
are simple and wholesome, and are impartially adminis- 
tered, although the king is despotic. Justice does not 
appear, preceded by Corruption, and followed by Famine. 
There is one law in Denmark which restrains the tyran- 
ny of parents towards their children, that deserves to be 
particularly mentioned : No parent can, by his own act, 
disinherit his child : if he thinks that his son will disho- 
nor him, and dissipate his fortune, he cannot change the 
usual channel of his property, without applying to the 
sovereign for permission, v/ho, in council, cautiously 
considers the allegation and answer ; and thus the refu- 
sal or permission is the result of a public process. Ad- 
mirable as the laws of Enirland are, it v/ould be 'well if 
svich a law as this, adapted to the genius of the constitu- 
tion, could be introduced. Alas 1 in England, how often 
is the happiness of an excellent child fiaciiPiced to the 



If% NaRTHERN SUMMER. tCsAP.. 4. 

unnatiiral caprice or p.vide of an .^ngry,. foolish, -mercena- 
ry parent ! 

The mildness of the Danish government is such, that 
when the king and a snbject, as is frequently the case, 
happen to be engaged in litigation, respecting titles to 
land, the judges are recomniended, if the point be dubi- 
ous, to decree in favor of the subject. A short, time be- 
fore we arrived, a woman had been found guilty, of mtir- 
der, and she was sentenced only to four years of solitary^ 
confinement.. The Crown Prince is unwilling to see the 
sword of justice stained with hunian blood : he i& mei'ci*' 
Jul almost to a fault ; 

Tlie quality of mercy is not strained' ; 
It droppeth, as the gentle rain* fi'om lieav*n. 
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed :^ 
It blesseth him that gives,, and him that takes.. 

The internal taxes are raised or reduced at the discre- 
tion of the king, which with the customs and tolls upon 
exports and imports, the duties paid by foreigners', and 
his own demesne lands and confiscations, constitute the 
revenues of the crown. The land tax ad valor ei7i is admi-- 
rably managed in Denmark, by which the soil is char- 
ged according to its fertility, which is estimated by the 
quantity of grain required to sow a certain quantity of 
land. This tax is formed into classes : the peasants have 
no assignable property in the soil, like tenants in England 
upon long leases ; they contract with their landlord to 
cultivate so much land, in the manner prescribed by the 
ordinances respecting agriculture, and pay their rent ei- 
ther in money or provision. Such is the law now, that 
they can experience no oppression : 

Princes and Lords may flourish or may fade, 
A breath can make them as a breath hath made, 
But a bold Peasantry, their Country's pride. 
When once destroy'd can never be supplied. 

The hospitality of the numerous and highly respecta- 
ble family of the De Conincks, the principal merchants 
at Copenhagen, would not suffer us to quit the capita], 
without visiting their beautiful seat called Dronningaard 



Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. n 

or Queen's palace. As we reserved Sunday for this little 
country excursion, we learned, not without some incon^ 
venience, that the Danes are remarkably rigid in their 
observance of the hours of worship. On that day during 
divine service no one is permitted to quit or enter the 
city but at one gate. Immediately after we had passed 
the wrong draw-bridge, the clock stnick eleven, and the 
gate closed upon all erratic sinners : this unlucky event 
compelled us to go round the ramparts, and make a de-- 
viation of several miles. Thoroughly impressed as I 
am with the necessity of preserving the sanctity of the 
Sabbath, I must confess I am a.t a loss to see the utility of 
barring gates to keep religion in. This expedient ap-- 
pears to me as useless as that of a burgomaster, who, 
upon a favorite lady flying to him in tears to tell him 
that her canary bird had escaped from its cage, ordered 
the drawbridges of the town to be raised to prevent the 
elopement of the little fugitive. The gates are shut in 
summer at twelve, and in winter at seven at night. 

Dronningaard is the first private residence in Denmark, 
lies about sixteen ^English miles from the. eity ; the 
grounds, which are very extensive, and tastefully laid 
out, slope down to a noble lake, twelve English miles in 
circumference, and is skirted v/ith fine woods, and ro- 
mantic country houses. At the end of a beautiful walk I 
was struck with the appearance of an elegant marble 
column, on a tablet affixed to which was inscribed : 

" This Monument is erected in gratitude to a ?mid and 
beneficent Government^ under whose auspices 
I enjoy the 'blessings that surround me. ^^ 
In another part of the grounds, in a spat of deep seclu- 
sion, we beheld the ruins of a hermitage, before which 
was the channel of a little brook, then dried up ; and a 
little further, in a nook, an open grave and a tomb-stonci 

The story of this retired spot deserves to be mention- 
ed. Time has shed many winter snows upon the roman- 
tic beauties of Dronningaard, since one who, weary of the 
pomp of courts and the tumult of camps, in the prime 
of life, covered with honors and with fortune, sought 
from its hospitable owner permission to raise a seques- 
tered cell, in which he might pass the remainder of his 

E^ 



5i NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4, 

days in all the austerities and privation of an anchorite. 
This singular man had long, previous to the revolution 
in Holland, distinguished himself at the head of his regi- 
ment, but in an unhappy moment the love of aggran- 
dizement took possession of his heart, and marrying un- 
der its influence, misery followed : and here, in a little 
wood of tall firs he raised this simple fabric : moss 
warmed it within, and the bark of the birch defended it 
without ; a stream of rock water once ran in a bed of 
pebbles before the door, i]i which the young willow dipt 
its leaves ; aiid at a little distance from a bed of M'ild ro- 
ses the labernum gracefully rose and suspended her yel- 
low flowers : he selected an adjoining spot for the depo- 
sitory of his remains when death 

like a lover's pinch 



That hurts, but is desir'd, 

should have terminated all his sufferings here. Every- 
day he dug a small portion of his grave vmtil he had fin- 
ished it : he then composed his epitaph in French, and 
had it inscribed apon a stone ; the reader I think will be 
pleased with it in the English dress Avhich it has received 
from the distinguished pen of William Hay ley, Esq. : 

THE HERMIT'S EPITAPH. 

Here may he rest, who, shunning scenes of strife, 
Ejoy'd at Droriningaard a Hermit's life ; 
The faithless splendor of a court he knew, 

And all the ardor of the tented field. 
Soft Passion's idler charm, not less untruf. 

And all that lisdess Luxury can yield. 
He tasted, tender Love ! thy chaster sweet ; 
Thy proiTiis'd happiness prov'd mere deceit. 
To Hymen's hailow'd fane by Reason led. 

He deem'd the path he trod, the path of bliss ? 
Oh ! ever mourn'd mistake ! from int'rest bred^ 

Its dupe was plung'd in Misery's abyss. 
But Friendship oifer'd him, benignant power, 
Her cheering hand, in trouble's darkest hour. 

Beside this shaded stream, her soothing voice 

Bade the disconsolate again rejoice : 
Peace in his heart revives, serenely sweet ; 

The caliTi content so sought for as his choice, 
(^jiits him no more in^tUis beloy'd j^treai. 



/ 

Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 5^ 

In this singular solitude he passed several years, when 
the plans of his life became suddenly reversed, by a let- 
ter of recal from his prince, which contained the most 
flattering expressions of regard. The wishes of his sove- 
reign and of his country were imperative, he flew, to Hol- 
land, and at the head of his regiment fought and fell. 
The night preceding his departure, he composed a fare- 
well to the enchanting scenery in w^hose bosom he had 
found repose,, which as an affectionate reniembrance of 
the unfortunate hermit, is inscribed upon a tablet of mar- 
ble, raised in a little grove not far from the hermitage ; 
for the following translation I am indebted to the poetie 
and elegant mind of Leigh Hunt, Esq. : 

FAREWELL OF THE HERMIT OF DRONNINGAARD. 

Vain would life's pilgrim, ling'ring on his way. 

Snatch the short respite of a summer's day ; 

Pale Sorrow, bending o'er his sad repose, 

Still finds a tear in ev'ry shelt'ring rose : 

Still breaks his dream, and leads th' unwilling slave 

To weep, and wander to a distant grave. 

E'en he, whose steps since life's ungenial morn 

Have found no path unfretted with rude thorn ; 

From all he lov'd must turn his looks away, 

Far, far from thee, fair Dronningaard, must stray. 

Must leave the Eden of his fancy's dreams. 

Its twilight groves and long-resounding streams ; 

Streams, w-here the tears of fond regret have ran. 

And back return to sorrow and to man I 

O yet once more, ye groves, your sighs repeat, 

And bid fare well to these reluctant feet : 

Once more arise, thou soft, thou sootKjng wave. 

In weeping m.urmurs, ere I seek my grave ; 

Ere yet a thousand social ills I share. 

Consuming war, and more consuming care, 

Pleasures that ill conceal their future pains. 

Virtue in want, blest Liberty in chains, 

Vice, proud and powerful as the winter's wind. 

And all the dire deliriums of mankind. 

Yet e'en this heart may hail its rest to come ; 
Sorrow, thy reign is ended in the tomb ! 
There close the eyes, that wept their fires away ; 
There drop the hands that clasp'd to mourn and, pray i 
There sleeps the restlessness of aching hearts j 
There Love/the tyrant; buries 9M his d^rts I 



.5& NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. 

O grant me, heav'n, thus sweetly to repose ! 
Tis thus my soul shalt triumph o'er its woes ; 
Spring from the world, nor drop one painful tear 
On all it leaves^ on all it treasures here ; 
Save once, perhaps, when pensive moonlight gleams 
O'er Dronningaard's meek sh?des and murmuring strearasy 
The sacred grief, to dear remembrance true, 
O'er her soft flow'rs may shed its gentlest dew, 
May once in sounds, that soothe the suff'ring mind. 
Breathe its lorn murmurs through the solemn wind ; 
Lament, sweet spot, thy charms must wither'd be, 
And linger e'en fronn heav'n to sigh for thee ! 

The dispatch with which nature pushes on her vegeta- 
ti®n in these cold climates is amazing : this delightful 
spot, which was now in full foilage, presented nothing 
but naked branches a fortnight before. I quitted Dron- 
ningaard with almost as much regret as did the devoted 
eremite. 

A visit to the Crown-battery was very interesting. A 
young Danish officer, who w^as present at the battle of the 
second of April, pointed out the respective positions of 
the fleets and block ships, and described with great candor 
and liberality the particulars of the engagement. This 
formidable battery is about half an English mile from 
shore, is square, and the water flows into the middle of 
it ; it is now very rapidly enlarging, and undergoing such 
alterations as will make it a place of great strength. It 
is also in contemplation to raise a fresh battery to the 
southward in addition to that called the lunette. The 
harbor is very capacious and safe. The holm or arsenal 
is not shewn without the permission of the admiral. The 
ships in ordinary are finely arranged and make a gallant 
show : a gallery or narrow bYidge, resting upon piles, 
runs on each side of the line, which is patrolled day and 
night. The magazines, forges, and workshops are upon 
an admirable construction; each ship* has her different 
magazine, containing all the materials for her rapid 
equipment. This depot is furnished with iron from 
Norway, hemp from Riga, cloth from Russia and Hol- 
land, and wood from Pomerania.. The rope-walks are 
each a thousand feet long. As I was enjoying, one fine 
afternoon, a row in that part of the harbor where the arj*- 



-Chap. 4.] NORTHETlISr SUMMER. -5r7? 

^senal is, and nothing can be more beautiful: or interest- 
„Jpg than such an excursion, I observed a man of war 
, ^ying near the quay of a peculiar construction : she swel- 
; led amazingly in the upper sides, forming a considerable 
. portion of a circle, for the purpose of enabling her to 
, bring several of her after guns to act with her bow guns 
or with her stern chasers : she had a very clumsy appear- 
ance, and I was informed that the experiment had .not 
„ answered the wishes of government. The number of 
-.merchant vessels we saw at the quay confirmed the ac- 
e eount we received of the magnitude of the Danish com- 
^merce. Nature, which has broken the -kingdom into 
^islands, has instinctively .made the Danes merchants. aod. 
^?9ailors : their principal foreign txade is with France, Por- 
^;!!;Hgal,^ and Italy, and the , East and West Indies : their 
,,prinpipal domestic trade is. with Norway, and even with 
.Iceland, which, to all but its patriotic and contented na- 
tive, is a most deplorable- country j the very outskirts of 
^the world. The . seamen, , are registered, and are divided 
_into two classes, the stationary sailors who are always in 
the employ of the crown ; the others , are, in tiines of 
peace, permitted to enter into merchant ships, subject to 
^recal in case of war, and have a small annual, stipend, 
^/rhe academy of marine cadets forms one of the palaces 
ein the Octagon ; it was founded by Frederic V. Here, 
.9,nd,?it;an hotej wiiich belongs to it, sixty youths are main-- 
.tained and instructed in the principles of navi;gation, at 
, the expense of the. crown. There are also. several other 
young gentlemen admitted to the school, hut are not 
.^ji^aintained there. Every year several of these gallant 
.pupils makcia cruise in a brig of war, that they may blend 
practice with: theory.. The academy of land cadets is 
fpretty nearly upon thesam^ establishment : fifty boys 
,,are maintained and educated for a military life, by the 
. crown, and others are admitted to tlie school, but main- 
.tained at their own expense. The former are well fed, 
Ifeut are never permitted to ^rink tea. In the academy, is 
^a riding house, and in the adjoining stables eight horses, 
are kept for the use:of the young pupils.in the art of. 
ricUug.. 



M ^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4, 

In the course of my rambles I visited the citadel, which 
is small and stands at the extremity of the city, and con- 
tains two battalions ; it has two gates, one towards the 
city, and the other towards the country ; the latter is well 
fortified by five bastions. Adjoining the chapel is the 
dungeon in which the Count Struensee was confined ; 
it is indeed a most dismal hole ; it was here that he light- 
ened the Aveight of his chains and the horrors of impri- 
sonment by his flute, upon which, so little apprehensive 
was he of his impending fate, that his favorite air was 
from the Deserteur, beginning with Mourir c'est notre 
dernier ressort. Upon quitting this melancholy abode 
we requested the soldier who conducted us to shew us 
that of his unhappy fellow-sufferer Brandt : he accord- 
ingly led us through a gloomy stone passage, and after 
unlocking and unbarring a massy door conducted us up 
a winding stone staircase into the cell, where, to my sur- 
prise, a sun-beam slanting through a small grated win- 
dow, presented to us the figure of a man of respectable 
appearance, and of about the middle age of life, emacia- 
ted by long confinement and bowed down by grief. As 
we approached him a faint blush partially spread over 
his sallow cheek, and a tear stood in his eye, which he 
endeavored to conceal with his hand, and with a bow of 
humiliation turned from as to a little bird cage which he 
was constructing. We apologized for our intrusion, 
and hastily turning towards the door, we beheld a beau- 
tiful boy standing near it, apparently about eight years 
old : his look at once explained that the prisoner was his 
father : the face of this little child of sorrow was the 
most artless and expressive I ever beheld. As we de- 
scended he followed, and when at the bottom of the stairs, 
we asked him why he looked so pale, the little creature 
replied in French, " Ah, Sir! I look so because I have 
just recovered fiT>m a fever ; I do not always look so : 
I shall soon be well, but my poor papa never will." We 
put money in his hand, and begged him to take it to his 
father ; this he immediately returned saying, " No,' sir, 
indeed I m-ust not, my father will be angry with me." 
Ail our efforts Vf ere in vain ; it was a scene of affecting 
mystery. The soldier took up the child and kissed it, 



Ckaf. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 5» 

and bidding him return to his father, closed the door. He 
informed us that the prisoner had been convicted of for- 
gery, but stated that there were many strong circumstan- 
ces in his favor. Oh, how I wished that that merciful 
prince Vvdiose ears are ever more open to the sounds of 
suflering than of flattery, had heard what we heard 1 the 
looks and language of the little prattler would have 
pleaded for the wretched prisoner. 

The little ancient palace of Rosenberg, said to be built 
by Inigo Jones, attracted our notice, the gardens belong- 
ing to which form the principal town parade of the bells 
and beaux of Copenhagen. The statues in these gar- 
dens are not worthy of notice, although recommended to 
the notice of travellers by many of the Copenhagers. In 
the street adjoining are the barracks for the foot guards, 
and a covered hall for military exercise, of four hundred 
feet long. This Gothic edifice is principally remarkable 
for containing the room in which the King holds his an- 
nual bed of justice, and for the jewel office : the former is a 
long low room, the whole length of the building ; before 
thethrone uponthefloor stand three lions of massy silver, 
in different attitudes as large as life, and excite a fine idea 
of barbarous grandeur : the walls are surrounded with 
large pieces of ancient tapestry, somewhat the worse for 
age, representing the exploits of tlie most military of the 
Danish monarchs in their wars with the Swedes. In a 
little room adjoining the hall are several services of plate, 
vases, wine-glasses, and goblets, in chrystal, which were 
presented to Frederic IV. by the Venetian States ; the 
collection is very valuable and tastefully arranged. In 
another small apartment, we saw the saddle of Christian 
IV. covered with pearls, said to be worth 30,000/. which 
he once used upon a magnificent gala day in Copenha- 
gen. In the cabinet of jewels are the coronation chairs, 
crov/ns, and various valuable and curious assortm.ents of 
jewelry ; but I w^as most gratified by a beautiful service 
of Danish porcelain, which was made in the new manu- 
factory of china, on which was exquisitely painted the 
Flore Dancia, or the indigenous botanical productions of 
Denmark and Norway. We found it difficult to get a 
peep at this place, on account, as we were told, of the 



^O' .NORTHERN SWrMER. IChap. 4, 

grand marshal of the court always haviDg the custody 
•of the key. An old officer of the rank of colonel shewed 
the curiosities, and through the hands of an attendant 
received a ducat for his trouble. 

From the palace I proceeded to the observatory, a noble 
round tower, one hundred and twenty feet high, in which 
;a spiral road of brick nearly winds to the top, so that thus 
.far any one might ascend or descend on horseback with 
perfectease and safety : at the top is the observatory of 
the celebrated Ticho Brahe. The instruments are good 
andin excellentcondition ; amongst the telescopes there is 
one that is twelve Danish feet long, and magnifies eight 
hundred times, made by Alh of Copenhagen. From 
this tower a young Dane precipitated himself, a short 
time before we visited it, and was dashed to pieces : at 
the school to which he belonged, the master had passed 
over his merits, as he too rashly thought, to compliment 
a boy of higher rank, but his inferior in learning. The 
wounded sensibility of the former dro.ve him to frenzy, 
and caused the melancholy catastrophe above related. 
Not far from the observatory is the university library ; 
it contains about four thousand volumes, they are chiefly 
Aipon theology and jurisprudence ; there are also about 
two thousand manuscripts, amongst the most rare of the 
latter is a bible in Rvmic characters. This library has 
an annual revenue of eight hundred crowns for the sole 
purpose of purchasing books, and is open to the public. 
The school of surgery is a small, neat and handsome mo- 
dern building : under this ix)bf a singular instance of 
acute sensibility happened a few years since, which is 
still much talked M3f^ As Kruger, a celebrated anatomi- 
cal lecturer, was addressing his pupils, he received a let- 
ter announcing the death of a very dear friend at P^ris ; 
he was observed to be much agitated, and exclaimed, 
"<« I have received intelligence which I shall never long 
survive : I cannot recover the shock." His scholars, 
^vho very much loved him, pressed round, and bore him 
to his home in their arms, where he expired a few hours 
after. The hospital for secret lying-in, is a handsome edi- 
fice : here pregnantwomen, who have reasons for seeking 
4;onceaiment, are received upon paying a small stipend i 



€^AP.4.] NORTHERN SUMMEK. 61 

they enter at night in masks, and are never seen but by 
those who are necessary to their comfort, and their names 
are never required. This is a noble institution, and is 
said to have produced a very visible diminution in the 
crime of infanticide. 

At the tables d'hote at Copenhagen, a stranger is at first 
truck with the appearance of noblemen with stars glitter- 
ing upon their breast, being seated at the same table with 
the rest of the company. This seldom occurs but in 
the summer, Avhen the heads of noble families who pass 
that season of the year at their chateaus, come occasion- 
ally to town, where their houses are generally shut up 
till the winter. It was at one of these places that I met 
with an extraordinary instance of the ignorance in which 
a native of one country may remain of the manners of 
another. A Danish gentleman, as he was picking his 
teeth with his foi'k, a delicate custom very prevalent upr« 
on the continent amongst ail classes, observed that he had 
heard the English women were very pretty, but he was 
confident that he never could love them : upon being 
pressed for his reason he replied, because he understood 
they were never seen without a pipe in their mouths I 
We told him that it was very true they had frequently 
pifies in their mouths, and very sweet ones too, but that 
they never smoaked : nay, so much did they abhor it, 
that they regarded the man with disgust who indulged 
himself in the habit. 

At Copenhagen I had an opportunity of observing, 
that a Turk in a Lutheran country can get as gloriously 
drunk as a Christian. At a table d'hote which I fre- 
quented, we were occasionally amused by a little fat fol- 
lower of Mahomet, who had just arrived, with some ap- 
pearance of consequence, but with a suspicious applica- 
tion to the Danish government : the mussulman verjr 
soon forgot or defied the sumptuary provisions of the Al- 
coran, and became enamored with some excellent port 
■wine and English bottled porter ; his libations, which 
were pretty copious, were generally followed by dancing 
and kidding his turban round the room ; at length, he was 
suddenly told to look out for other quarters. A little fa- 
cetious waiter was asked whether he had removed Hm, 

F 



62 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4s 

to prevent his further auginenting the anger of the 
prophet ? " I know nothing about his prophet," said he, 
** all that I know is, that he has got no more money.'* 

After having perused the description which travellers 
have given of the grounds and house of Count Bernstoff, 
I was somewhat disappointed upon visiting them : the 
former are certainly finely wooded, and command a beau- 
tiful view of the Sound, but they are not laid out with 
much taste ; the latter is by no means splendid. I was 
more gratified with the King's park, which is extensive 
and highly picturesque, as I was v/ith the grounds and 
gardens of Prince Frederic, the King's brother : this 
spot is very delightful, and on account of the motley 
crowds which flock to it, is in miniature (a very small one) 
at once the Versailles and Greemvich-part of Denmark. 

The laws of Denmark prevent the gratifications of 
shooting : a young Dane, who had been in England, ob- 
served to me one day with a most serious countenance, 
that nothing could exceed the impertinence of the hawks^ 
who, availing themselves of the laws, flew into the room 
and killed his canary birds. 

A gloomy curiosity conducted us to the Rasp-house, 
where capital offenders are confined for life : the' male 
convicts, some of whom were ironed, rasp and saw Bra- 
silwood and rein-deer's horns; the latter is used in soup. 
The females spin. The prisoners are separately confin- 
ed : the house of correction is on the right : here offen- 
ders of both sexes are enclosed in the same room, many 
of them young and healthy, but strange to relate, I only 
saw one little child in the apartment : they all looked 
neat and clean, and are made by their labor to contribute 
tow^ards their support. It has often surprised me that 
the latter arrangement has not been adopted in the prin- 
cipal ]Drisons of England ; surely it is a subject well 
-worthy the notice of the statesman. We have hun- 
dreds of miserable wretches shut up in confinement af- 
ter conviction, who, with the exception of picking 
oakum in some of the correctional houses, and that too 
in a very desultory and unprofitable manner, do nothing 
but render their depravity more desperate. Justice de- 
mands that their services, if possible, should atone for 



Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMfiR. Ct 

their crimes ; policy, that they should help to maintaiA 
themselves ; and humanity, that their health should be 
promoted by their labor. 

The AdKiiralty -hospital, the Citizen-hospital, the Or- 
phans-house, and the hospital of Frederic, are all very 
humane foundations and well maintained ; there is 
nothing in them vv^orthy of elaborate description. To an 
Englishman such establishments, and every other insti- 
tution by which misfortune can be relieved, misery alle- 
viated, and infirmity recovered, are proudly familiar to 
his eye : they constitute the principal beauty of every 
town and city in his country. Although the manufacto- 
ries of the north are much inferior to those of the south, 
I must not omit to mention the gratification which we 
derived from visiting the manufactory of china, which is 
very beautiful, and although inits infancy, is thought to 
rival those of Saxony, Berlin, and Vienna. This manu- 
factory furnished the beautiful service which we saw in 
the palace of Rosenberg : it is under the care of direc- 
tors, who very liberally and politely shew the whole of 
this very curious and elegant establishment to strangers. 

I did not leave Copenhagen without visiting the Dutch 
town in the isle of Amak, about two English miles from 
the capital, which is inhabited by about four thousand peo- 
ple, descendants from a col©ny from East Friesland, who 
were invited to reside here with certain privileges, by 
one of the ancient kings of Denmark, for the purpose of 
supplying the city with milk, cheese, butter, and vegeta^ 
bles ; the neatness and luxuriance of their little gardens 
cannot be surpassed : they dress in the Dutch style, and 
are governed by their own laws. The road from this 
village to the city is constantly crowded with these inde- 
fatigable people, who by their bustle and activity give it 
the appearance of a great ant-hill. In Denmark no other 
money is to be seen than the money of the country, the 
currency of which is penally protected: I must except, 
liowever, Dutch ducats which pass all over Europe, and 
are very seldom below par. There is here a plentiful 
lack of gold and silver coin, and abundance of copper. 

Having seen most of the lions of Copenhagen, we pre- 
pared to bid adieu to our friends, and to shape our course 



,^4 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. 

towards Sweden : as a necessary preliminary w^e exchan- 
ged our Danish" money for Swedish sjnall notes : the ex- 
change was about three per cent, in our favor ; by this 
precaution we obviated the difficulty of procuring change 
for large Swedish notes in the country, and the inconven- 
ience (and not a small one it is) of carrying its coin. W« 
also procured a servant who spoke Swedish, which waa 
very necessary, and purchased ropes and cross bars to 
enable us to construct a new harness and tackling in 
Sweden according to the custom of travelling there. 
When a man is about to set out on a long journey, it is 
a fortimate thing for him if some little pleasant or ridic- 
ulous event occur to set him off in good humor ; no- 
thing therefore could happen more opportunely than the 
following circumstance : Just before our departure w« 
had occasion to go to a leather breeches maker^ to which 
"we were conducted by our lacquais de place : our gentle- 
man, who by the byc* V/llS iin li;:li'?>^'0 and the coolest of 
Lis countrymen, with the greatest sang Jroid aadrCoSCd 

himself very familiarly to the Baron E , the Bavari* 

>an minister, who was in the shop when we entered, and 
at last begged to have the honor of introducing him to 
tis. We bowed to each other with a smile of astonish- 
ment at the intrepid assurance of our mutual fnend. We 
took the road to Elsineur, attended by several of our Co- 
penhagen friends, who begged to accompany us as far 
as Fredericksborg, where it was agreed that we should 
dine and part. Every thing in Denmark is very dear, 
pretty nearly as much so as iu Eng^laud. 



€hap. 5.] NORTHERK SUMMER. 65 



CHAPTER V. 

Fredericksborg—Storks — Fastidious mares-^Forest laws 
^Penalties of tra-uelUng — Prince William of Glouces- 
ter — Continental equifiages — ^Hamlet's Orchard — -Cron- 
berg castle — 'Some affecting scenes which passed there — ^ 
The farewell kiss — The gallantry of captain Macbridc 
'—The little court of Zdl — The death of the Queen Ma- 
tilda. 

THE road from Copenhagen to Fredericksborg, dis- 
tant about sixteen English miles, is very beautiful, 
and presents a luxuriant display of lakes, woods, corn- 
fields, and forests of beech, oak, and fir. Before we 
reached that town, we passed through a forest of wild 
horses, some of which we saw ; they had a noble, rough 
appearance, and presented a fine study for such a pen- 
cil as Gilpin's. Whilst our dinner was preparing we vis- 
ited the palace, a heavy and most incongruous massy 
pile of building, in which black marble contends with 
red brick, and the simple graces of the Grecian order, 
with all the minute fretted perplexities of the Gothic ; 
the whole is covered with copper, and was built by 
Christian IV. ; it stands in a lake, and seems to be fit 
only for the residence of frogs, and I believe, with the 
exception of two old house-keepers, it has no other in- 
naates. The Sal de Chevalier is a very long room, 
crowded with paintings, badly arranged, and perishing 
with damp and mildew : some of them seemed to de- 
serve a better fate. The pillars which support the cor- 
nice of the fire-place in this room were once crowned 
with silver capitals, which the Swedes carried off in one 
of their irruptions. In the chapel we saw the throne 
upon which the kings of Denmark were formerly- 
crowned : the roof is most superbly gilt and decorated, 
and the walls are covered with the arms of the knights of 
the first order. As we passed through one of the old 
galleries, over a moat, • a gust of wind shook the crazy 
casement, and the great clock heavily struck its hour : 
it was altogether a place well suited for a second editioa 

F 2 



66 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. 

of the exploits of Sir Bertrand, or would form an ap- 
propriate academy for the spectre-loving pupils of the 
German school. 

In the gloomy grounds of this palace we again saw 
our old friend the stork : this subject of his Danish Ma- 
jesty generally quits his territories in October, and re- 
turns in Spring ; and what is singular, he always returns 
to his own nest. 

From this place we walked to the royal stud, about 
half a mile distant, (the road to which was exquisitely 
picturesque) where the king has two thousand fine hors- 
es, each of which is disfigured, by being marked with 
a large letter on one side of the haunch, and the year pf 
his birth on the other. There is here a beautiful and 
very rare breed of milk-white horses : they always herd 
together, and the mares will not permit the stalions of 
any other breed to approach them. I have been inform- 
ed ihat there is a similar breed in the island of Ceylon. 
There is as much good nature as policy in the permis- 
sion which his Danish Majesty grants to all the farmers, 
to have their mares covered by his finest stallions gratui- 
tously : hence the fine breed of horses in Denmark, the 
keep of which happily for that noble animal, is the only 
cheap thing in the kingdom. 

This part of the country is said to abound more in 
game than any other, but although the forest-laws prevail 
with all their rigor in Denmark Proper, except that the 
punishment of death is commuted into perpetual impris- 
onment, yet there is but little game, and but little in- 
crease in the breed of deer. It is a just retribution for 
the severity of the prohibition. After a glass of excel- 
lent Burgundy, which, as it was the signal of departure, 
seemed to lose half its flavor, we pressed our excellent 
friends by the hands, and proceeded on the road to El- 
smeur. 

It is one of the penalties of travelling, and a painful 
one it is, to meet with here and there a being, who de- 
lights, attaches, and is gone for ever. It was even so 
with one from whom I parted on this very spot, in all 
human probability never more to meet on this side the 
grave, He was a youth full of genius, accomplished, 



Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 67 

diffident, gentle, brave, and generous : he came from 
the region of mountains and cataracts, from the Swiss- 
erland of the north, where the winter snow is seen un- 
disturbed to settle on the naked breast of the hardy and 
happy peasant. I must again borrow the language of 
my adored Shakespeare, to paint my noble young Nor^ 
wegian : 

" His head unmellowM, but his judgment ripe-.: 
And in a word (for far behind his wortlt 
CoiTie all the praises that I now bestow), 
He was conaplete in feature and in mind, 
With all good grace to grace a gentleman." 

My memory will long dwell with delight upon the name 
of Knudtzon. 

Time would not admit of our seeing Fredericsvaark, 
which is near this place. The cannon-foundery and man- 
ufactories were established by General Claussen, who, 
by his skill and perseverance, has triumphed over the 
most formidable difficulties of local situation : the wiiole 
is at present under the superintendance of our ingenious 
countryman, Mr. English. It is said that this establish- 
ment can completely equip a fifty gun ship in two 
months, in all her guns, powder," and stores. 

The country houses, many of which we passed, are 
generally built of wood, piainted red or light yellow : 
they seldom exceed two stories, frequently containing 
only a sviit of ground floor apartments, and are far more 
comfortable within, than handsome without. Some- 
times they are built of brick, when the frame and tim- 
bers are visible, and have a very unpleasant appearance. 
The gardens are in general formally laid out, and the 
garden door is remarkable for being formed of a frame 
covered with fine wire netting, through which the 
grounds behind appear a& through a muslin veil, and the 
garden railing is almost invariably heavy and tasteless. 

Through a forest of fine beech, the sun shining glori* 
ously, and making the trunk of many a tree look like a 
pillar of gold, and illuminating the casement of many a 
romantic little cottage, we reached the palace of Fre- 
densborg, or the Mansion of Peace ; it stands in a val- 



68 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. 

ley, and was the retreat of the remorseless Juliana Ma- 
ria, after the young Crown Piince had taken possession 
of the veins of government, which, having stained with 
blood, she vainly endeavored to retain. Here in solitude 
she resigned her breath. No doubt her last moments 
v/ere agonized by the compunctious visitings of con- 
science, for the vvrongs which she had heaped up©n the 
unfortunate Matilda, and her savage sacrifice of Struen- 
see and Brandt. The grass was growing in the court, 
and upon the steps. The building is a large square 
front, surmounted with a dome, and extensive crescent 
wmgs ; the vvhole is of brick, stuccoed white. The 
wiridow-shutters were closed, and the glass in several 
places broken ; all looked dreary and desolate : after 
thundering at the door with a stick, w-e at length gained 
admittance. The apartments were handsome, and con- 
tained several good Flemish paintings. The domestic 
shewed us, with great exultation, the hall in which the 
Crown Prince entertained Prince William of Gloucester 
with a grand dinner about two years before. The Danes 
always mentioned this Prince with expressions of regard 
and admiration, that shewed how favorable were the im- 
pressions created by his amiable deportment and engag- 
ing manners during his visit to Denmark. The gardens 
and woods are very beautiful, but neglected, and gently 
slope down to the extensive lake of Esserom. As we 
roved along, the birds, Vv ith plaintive melodies, hailed 
the moist approach of evening, and our time just ad- 
mitted of our visiting, which we did with real satisfac- 
tion, a vast number of statues, which are circularly rang- 
ed in an open space surrounded by shrubs, representing 
the various costumes ot the Norwegian peasantry : some 
of them appeared to be admirably chiseled. 

Upon returning to the carriage, the images of what 
I had just seen produced the following lines. : 



Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ©t 

FREDE.YSBORG, 

THE DESERTED PALACE OF THE LATE qUEEN DOV/AGa*. 
JULIANA MARIA. 

Blest are the steps of Virtue's queen ! 
Where'er she moves fresh roses bloom, 
And when she droops, kind Nature pour* 
Her genuine tears in gentle show'rs. 
That love to dew the willow greeu 
That over-canopies her tomb. 

But ah ! no willing mourner her* 
Attends to tell the tale of woe : 
Why is yon statue prostrate thrown. 
Why has the grass green'd o'er the stonft. 
Why 'gainst the spider'd casement dreai: 
So sullen seems the wind to blow ? 

How mournful was the lonely bird, 
Withi" yon dark neglected grove ! 
Say, was it fancy ? From its throat 
Issu'd a strange and cheerless note ; 
'Twas not so sa.d as grief I heard. 
Nor yet so wildly sweet as love. 

In the deep gloom of yonder dell, 
Amibition's blood-stain'd victincis sighed t 
While time beholds, without a tear, 
Fell Desolation hovering near, 
Whose angry blushes seem to tell. 
Here Juliana shudd'ring died. 

As we descended to Elsineur, the town, the Sound, en-* 
livened by shipping at anchor and under sail, and the 
shores of Sweden, presented an enchanting prospect, 
which the brilliancy of the sky at this season of the year, 
in these northern climates, enabled me to contemplate 
till midnight. The next morning as I was quitting my 
hotel to take another ramble, the Governor of Copenha- 
gen, Prince W., and his Princess and suit, who had been 
spending the preceding day at Elsineur, were setting off 
for the capital : they were all crammed into a shabby 
coach, drawn by six horses in rope harness. It is aston- 
kliing how little a handsome travelling ec^uipage is un- 



|» NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. 

clerstood upon the continent. The town, which is prin- 
cipally built of brick, is large, and has a very respectable 
appearance. 

The gardens of Marie Lyst, or Maria's Delight, which 
are within half an English mile of Elsineur, cannot fail 
to prove very interesting to every admirer of our immor- 
tal Shakespeare. I here trod upon the very spot, where, 
with all the uncertainty of antiquity, tradition asserts that 
the'Father of Hamlet was murdered : that affecting dra- 
ma is doubly dear to me. Its beauties are above ail eulo- 
gium ; and I well remember, the desire of seeing a ghost 
occasioned its being the first I ever beheld. As I stood 
under the shade of a spreading beech, the " Majesty of 
buried Denmark" seemed to say to the afflicted prince ; 



Sleeping within my orchard. 



My custom always in the afternoon, 
Upon iTiy secure hoar thine uncle stole, 
With juice of cursed heberon in a viaU 
And in the porches of mine ears did pour 

The leprous distilinent 

Thus was I sleeping, by a brother's hand 

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd. 

Cut off, e'en in the blossoms of my sin, 

Unhousell'd, unappointed, unaneal'd. 

No i*eckoning made, but sent to my account 

With all my imperfections on my head. 

A more beautiful spot for such a frightful conference 
could not have been selected. The walks from this cele- 
brated scene, to the tower which overhangs the cliff, and 
from whence there is a fine view of Cronberg Castle, are 
enchantmg. There is a little chateau near Hamlet's 
Orchard belonging to the Crown Prince, who permits 
one of his chamberlains, called a kammerherr (a noble- 
man) to reside lieve : the symbol of his distinction is a 
singular one ; a golden key, fastened by a blue ribband 
to the back part of the body of his coat. 

The spires of the fortress of Cronberg, which appear- 
ed immediately below me, and the battlements upon 
which the hapless Matilda v/as permitted to walk during 
her confinement in that castle, excited an irresistible 
^'ish to lay before my reader a few of the most aSectin^ 



mRAT. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. . 71 

circumstances, which passed under its gloomy roof du- 
ring her captivity. 

It is well known what neglect and suffering the Queen, 
in the bloom of youth and beauty? endured, from the fatal 
imbecility of the King's mind, and the hatred and jeal- 
ousy of Sophia Magdalen, the grandmother, and Juliana 
Maria, the step-mother, of his Majesty ; and that the 
anger of the latter was encreased by Matilda's producing 
a prince, an event v/hich annihilated the hopes that Juli- 
ana cheiished of seeing the elevation of her favorite son 
Prince Trederick, to the throne. The Queen, about this 
period, 1769, was saved from ruin, only by attaching to 
her confidence the Count Struensee, who, sagacious, pe- 
netrating, bold, enterprising, and handsome, without the 
pretensions of birth, had ascended to an unlimited power 
over the will of the sovereign, had obtained the reins of 
government, and had far ach^anced with almost unexam- 
pled celerity and unshaken firmness in reforming the 
mighty abuses Avhich encumbered and distorted the fi- 
nance, the laws, the administration of justice, the police, 
the marine, the army, and the exchequer, and in short ev- 
ery department of government. Struensee restored the 
i^ueen to the bosom of her sovereign, and with the 
assistance of Count Brandt, the friend of Struensee, envi- 
roned the King, and made him inaccessible to every oth- 
er person. His Majesty's great delight at this period 
arose from the society/ of a negro boy, and a little girl 
about ten years of age, who used to anmuse him by break- 
ing the windows of the palace, soiling and tearing the 
furniture, and throwing dung and-turf at the statues in 
the garden. Struensee experienced the usual fate of re- 
formers, the abhorrence of those whom he corrected, and 
the suspicions or indifference of the people whom he 
served. He dislodged a nest of hornets : Juliana, with 
the keen unwearied vigilance of the tyger-cat, watched 
her victims from the gloomy shades of Fredensborg ; 
where herself and her party, consisting of Counts Ran- 
zau, Koller, and others, fixed on the 1 7th of January, 
1772, to close the career of their hated rivals : their sa- 
vage resolve was facilitated by the last fatal and infatua- 
ted measures of Struensee, who beheld too late the phren- 



rt NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5, 

zy of precipitate s)"^ steins of reform : he prevailed upon 
the King to issue an edict empowering every creditor to 
arrest his debtor without reference to birth or rank ; 
the nobility flew to their estates in all directions, with re- 
venge in their hearts ; he terrified and grievously offen- 
ded the mxild and rigid citizens of Copenhagen, by assi- 
milating its police to that of Paris, and by disbanding the 
royal foot-guards, composed of Norwegians, for the pur- 
pose of drafting them into other regiments. His days, 
his hours, were now numbered : on the night of the 1 6th 
of January, a magmficent hal fiare was given at the great 
palace, since, as I have related, burned. The young 
Queen never looked more lovely, she was the very soul 
of this scene of festive grandeur : 

Grace was in every step, heaven in her eye. 

It was the collected brilliancy of the expiring flame. At 
three o*clock a dead silence reigned throughout the pa- 
lace : the conspirators, with several guards, passed the 
bridge over the canal, and surrounded the avenues. Ju- 
liana, Prince Frederick, and Ranzau, went to the door of 
the King's apartment, which at first the fidelity of a page 
in waiting refused to unlock ; they terrified the monarch 
by their representations of an impending plot, and thrust 
into his hands for signature, the orders for seizing the 
Queen, Struensee, and Brandt. Upon seeing the name 
of Matilda upon the order, love and reason for a moment 
took possession of the King's mind, and he threw the pa- 
per from him, but upon being ardently pressed, he sign- 
ed it, put his head upon his pillow, pulled the bed-clothes 
over him, and in a short time forgot what he had done. 
Koller proceeded to Struensee's room, and being a pow- 
erful man, seized the latter by tiie throat, and with some 
assistance sent him and Brandt in a close carriage, strong- 
ly guarded, to the citadel. Ranzau and Colonel Eickstadt 
opened the door of the Queen's chamber, and awoke her 
from^ profound sleep to unexpected horror. These sa- 
vage intruders are said upon her resisting to have struck 
her : the indecency and indignity of the scene can scarce- 
ly be imagined ; after the Queen had hurried on her 
clothes, she was forced into a carriage, attended by a 



Ghap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. rs 

squadron of dragoons, and sent off to the fortress of 
Cronberg' ; upon her arrival, she was supported toiler' 
bed-chamber, a cold, damp, stone room : upon observinr^ 
the bed she exclaimed, " Take me av/ay 1 take me away i 
" rest is not for the miserable, there is no rest for me.'"* 
After some violent convulsions of nature, tears came to 
her relief : " Thank God," said the wretched Queen, 
" for this blessing, my enemies cannot rob me of iL." Up- 
on hearing the voice of her infant the Princess Louisa, 
who had been sent after her in anoth-er carriage, she pres- 
sed her to her bosom, kissed her v/ith the most impassion- 
ed affection, and bathed her with tears. " Ah I art thou 
here ?'* said she, " poor unfortunate innocent ; this is 
indeed some balm to thy wretched mother." In the ca- 
pital a scene of terror, tumult, and forced festivity fol- 
lowed : at twelve o'clock the next day, Juliana and her 
son paraded the King in his state coach, arrayed in his 
regalia, through the pmicipal streets, but only here and 
there a solitary shout of joy was heard. For three days 
the imprisoned queen refused to take any food, and 

'« Three times she crossed the shade of sleepless night." 

It is said that the King never once enquired for her, and 
diow became the sole property of the infamous Juliana, 
who guarded her treasure with the eye of a basilisk. The 
court of Great Britain made a mild but firm communi- 
cation upon the subject of the personal safety of the 
•Queen : nine commissioners were appointed to examine 
the prisoners : the following were the principal charges 
against Struensee. 

1 . A horrid design against the life of his sacred Ma- 
jesty. 

2. An attempt to oblige the King to resign the crown. 

3. A criminal connection v/itli the Queen. 

4. The improper manner in Vv^ich he had educated 
the Prince Royal. 

5. The great power and decisive influence he had ac- 
<^uired in the government of the state. 

6. The manner in which he used this power and influ- 
ence in the administi'ation of affairs. 

G 



r4 NORTHERN SUMMER. -[Ckap. 5.. 

Aip.onr;;st the charges preferred against tlie Count 
Liui^dt \.'as the ibilowiiig ridiculous one : 

" While the King vras playing in his usual manner 
'' -with Count Brandt, the Count bit his Mtvjesty's fino-er.'* 

Four commissioners proceeded to examine the Queen, 
^yho, ^.vith the v/rctched Constance, might have exclaimed 

Hei'e I and Sorrow sit, 



Here is my ilirone, let \ii\\g% come bow to it. 

Her answers were pointed, kiminous and dignified : she 
denied most sojemniy any criminal intercourse with Stru- 
cnsee. S. — — , a counsellor of state, abruptly informed 
the Queen, that Struensee had already signed a confes- 
sion in the highest degree disgraceful to the honor and 
c!ie:nity of her Majesty. " Impossible 1" exclaimed the 
astonished Queen, '<• Struensee never could make such 
" a confession : and if he did, I here call heaven to wit- 

••' ness, that what he said was false." The artful S . 

played off a master-piece of subtilty, which would liave 
done honor to a demon : " Well then," said he, " as your 
" Majesty has protested against the truth of his confes- 
" sion, he deserves to die for having so traitorously defi- 
" led the sacred character of the Queen of Denm.ark." 
This remark struck the wretched Princess senseless in 
her chair : after a terrible conflict between honor and 
humanity, pale and trem.bling, in a faultering voice she 
said, " And if I confess what Struensee has said to be 
*' true, may he hope for mercy ?*' which v/ords she pro- 
;nounced with the most affecting voice, and with all the 
captivations of youth, beauty, and majesty, in distress : 

S nodded, as if to assure her of Struensee's safety 

upon those terms, and immediately drev/ up her confes- 
aon to that effect, and presented it to her to sign ; upon 
this her frame .became agitated v,dth the most violent 
emotions ; she took up the pen and began to write her 
nam.e, and proceeded as far as Carol — , when observing 

the malicious joy w^iich sparkled in the eyes of S , 

she became convinced that the whole was a base strata- 
gem, and, throwing avfay the pen, exclaimed, " I.am de- 
*' ceived, Struensee never accused me, I know him too 
^ yv-ell ; he never could have been guilty of so great ^ 



eiiAP. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 75 

" crime." She endeavored to rise, but her strength failed 
her, she sunk do'vn, fainted, and fell back into her chair. 

In this state, the barbarous and audacious S put the 

pen between her fingers, which he held and guided, and 
before the unfortunate Princess could recover, the leUers 
^—'ina Matilda^ were added. The commissioners iiiniii:- 
diately departed, and itft her alone : upon her recover- 
ing and finding them gone, she conjectured the full hor- 
ror of her situation. 

To afford some coloring to the mock trial which fol- 
lowed, the advocate Uhidal was appointed her defender : 
his speech on behalf of the Queen, was in the highest 
degree able, pathetic, and convincing. Uhldai di;> 
charged such duties, as in a fevf years afterwards devolv- 
ed upon the eloquent Malsherbes, and with equal effect : 
the illustrious clients of both were pre -judged : it was 
the shov/ of justice, not to investigate, but to give a spu- 
rious eclat to their fate. Hov/ opposite v/as this tribunal 
to that which Sheridan, in ablaze of eloquence, apostro- 
phized upon the trial of Wa.rren Hastings, Esq. ! 
*' From such a base caricature of justice," exclaimed 
the orator, " I turn my eyes with horror. I turn them 
" here to this dignified and high tribunal, vv^here the Ivla- 
" jesty of real Justice sits enthroned. Here I perceive 
" her in her proper robes of truth and mercy, chaste 
" and simple, accessible and patient, awful without se- 
" verity, inquisitive without m^eanness, her loveliest at- 
" tribute appears in stooping to raise the oppressed, and 
" to bind up the wounds of the afHicted." 

The grand tribunal divorced the Queen, and separated 
her for ever from the King, and proposed to blemish th« 
birth of the Princess Louisa, by their decree, and reduce 
the little itmocent to that orphanage " which springs not 
" from the grave, that falls not from the hand of Provi- 
" dence, or the stroke, of death ;" but the cruel design 
was never executed. Uhidal also exerted all the powers 
of his eloquence for the two unfortunate Counts. Hu- 
manity revolts at their sentence, which the unhappy 
King, it is said, signed with thoughtless gaiety : tivey 
had been confined from the seventeenth of January, and 
fin the tvrenty-tighth of March, at eleven o'clock, were 



To NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. 

diTiv/n cait to execution in two separate cririiages, in a 
field near the east gate of the town : Brandt ascended 
tlie scaffold first, and displayed the most undaunted in- 
trepidity. After his sentence was ready and his coat of 
arms torn, he calmly prayed a few minutes, and then 
spoke with great mildness to the people. Upon the ex- 
ecutioner endeavoring to assist him in taliixng oft' his 
pelisse, he said, *• Stand off, do not presume to touch 
" me :" he then stretched out his hand, v/hich, without 
shrinking from the blow, v/as struck off, and almost at 
the same moment his head was severed from his body. 
Struensee, during this bloody scene, stood at the bottom 
of the scaffold in trembling agony, and became so faint 
>7hen his friend's blood gushed through the boards, and* 
trickled down the steps, that he w^as obliged to-be sup- 
ported as he ascended them : here his courage wholly 
forsook him ; he several times drew back his hancl, 
wliich w^as dreadfully maimed before it was cut off, and 
&t length he was obliged to be held down before the ex- 
ecutioner could perform his last office. Copenhagen 
was unpeopled on the day of this savage saciifice ; but 
iilthough the feelings of the vast crowed which surround- 
ed the scaffold, had been artfully v/rought upon by Ju- 
liana and her partizans, they beheld the scene of butch- 
cry with horror, and retired to their homes in sullen 
silence. Nothing but the spirited conduct of our then 
ambassador, Sir Robert Keith, prevented the Queeii 
from being immolated at the same tim.e. 

On the 27th of May, a squadron of two British frig- 
ates and a cutter, under the command of the gallant Cap- 
tain Macbride, cast anchor off Helsingfors, and on th« 
3 0th every thing was finally arranged for the removal of 
the Queen : upon the barge being announced, she clasp- 
ed her infant daughter to her breast, and shed upon her 
a shower of tears. The Queen then sunk into an appa- 
rent stupor ; upon recovering, she prepared to tear her- 
self away, but the voice, the smiles, and endearing mo- 
tions of the babe chained her to the spot ; at last, sum- 
moning up all her resolution, she once more took it to 
h.er arms, and in ail the ardor and agony of distracted 
i jvcj imprinted upon its lips the farewell kiss, and re-- 



Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 77 

turning it to the attendant, exclainiev.!, '* Away ! away ! 
I now possess nothing here," and was supported to the 
barge in a state of agony which bafHes description. — 
Upon the Queen approaching the frigate, the sque^dron 
saluted her as the sister of his Britannic Majesty, and 
when she came on board, Captain Macbride hoisted the 
Danish colors, and insisted upon the fortress of Cronberg 
sahiting her as Queen of Denmark, wiiich sakite was 
returned with two guns less. The squadron then set 
sail for Stade, in the Hanoverian dominions, but, owing 
to contrary winds, was detained y\dtliin sight of the castle 
the whole day, and in the early part of the following 
morning its spires were still faintly visible, and until 
they completely faded in the mist of -^distance, the Queen 
sat upon the deck, her eyes ri vetted upon them, and her 
hands clasped in silent agony. Shall we follow the 
wretched Matilda a little farther ? The path is solitary, 
very short, and at the end of it is her tomb. Upon her 
landing at Stade she proceeded to a little remote hunt- 
ing seat upon the borders of the Elbe, where she remain-* 
ed a few months, until the castle of Zell, destined for her 
future residence, was prepared for her : she removed to 
it in the autumn ; here her little court was remarked for 
its elegance and accomplishments, for its bounty to the 
peasantry, and the cheerful serenity which reigned 
throughout. The Queen spent much of her time alone, 
and having obtained the portraits of her children from 
Denmark, she placed them in a retired apartment, and 
frequently addressed them in the most affecting manner 
as if present. 

So passed away the time of this beautiful and accom- 
plished exile, until the eleventh of May 1775, when a 
rapid inflammatory fever put a period to her afflictions 
in the twenty -fourth year of her age. Her coffin is next 
to that of the dukes of Zell. Farevfell poor Queen I 

" Ah ! while we sigh we sink, and are -wlijit we deplore." 

G2 



T^ NORTHERN SUMMF.H, [Chap. &, 



CHAPTER VI. 

Cress the scund—Siveden — Ciriderella's mice — Rafiid ira- 

vellmg'-^Stran^e question Ho ff -grazing Misled bij 

ths light — A discovery d caution — A French hatch 

^I^HE traveller will do right to obtain letters of intro- 
A. duction to Mr. Fenwick, our consul at Elsineur : 
tliey will be the means of making him acquainted with 
an nmi&ble and highly respectable family, whose man- 
ners, information, and hospitality, must afford gratifica- 
tion. In the evening we procured a boat, embarked 
ourselves and baggage, and, by the assistance of a gen- 
tle breeze that just curled the water, w^e crossed the 
Sound, about four English miles in breadth, and in three 
quarters of an hour found ourselves in Sweden. We 
passed close by Cronberg Castle, v/hich stands upon a 
peninsular point the nearest to Sweden. I was again 
forcibly struck with the abbey -like appearance of this 
building : it now forms the residence oi the Governor of 
Elsineur. It mounts three hundred and sixty-five pieces of 
cannon, and its subterranean apartments vvill hold micre 
than a regiment of men. Fame, at one period, assign- 
ed to it the character of the impregnable and impassable 
fortress. On the celebrr.ted second of April, Admirals 
Parker and Nelson passed it with perfect security, and 
disdained to return a shot. Two British seventy -fours 
judiciously moored, and well served, would, in a short 
time, blow all its boasted bastions and intrenchments at 
the moon. No visitor, without special permiiscion from 
the governor (seldom granted), is ailov/ed to put his foot 
upon the draw -bridge : why all this caution is used, I 
know not ; perhaps to keep up the mystery of invinci- 
bility. For my part, I am so well assured that the poli- 
cy of power is unostentatiously to show itself, that could 
I have discharged a paper bullet from my little boat into 
this redoubted castle, I would have enclosed in it this 
sentence : " Where there is concealment there is appre- 
hension." This place w^as open to every one, until the 
•wand of Fatima was broken on the second of April. 



Cji.M'. 6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 79' 

The Crown battery is a place of real force, and even 
Englishmen are permitted to see it Avithout the least dif- 
ficulty. 

We disembarked under the steep and rbcky shores 
of Helsinborg, and a small town upon a long pier,- 
where the carriaee was landed with considerable risk- 
and difficulty ; and I warn those who travel with one, 
to take good care that they cross the Sound in calm, 
weather, as it is obliged to be lifted out of the boat by 
mere manual strength. On landing, a Swedish hussar, 
a line-looking fellow, in blue looss trowers and jacket,., 
with his two side-locks plaited, and fastened at the end 
by little w^eights of lead, demanded very civilly our 
passports ; and, whilst he v/ent to the commander with, 
them, paid our robust boatmen in Danish money :. 

Dollars Marks S killings 
For the boat - - 3 q 

Carriae-e - - 2 

o 

Drink money - 3 

We now settled all our accounts with Denmark, and 
proceeded to a very neat little inn, not far from the shore, 
where we found comfortable accommodations, which I 
suppose' are improved by the neighborhood of Ramlos, 
where the nobility of this province assemble every season 
to drink the waters. Having refreshed ourselves with 
some excellent coffee, we hastened to the duties of the 
evening, which proved a very busy one, for we intended 
to start direct for Stockholm, at five o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and our impatience cost our /inde nothing less than 
figuring away a few days afterwards in the Stockholm 
Gazette as a couple of couriers just landed. The reader 
who never means to, make a nearer approach to Swe- 
den, than from his fire-side to his library, may as well 
pass over the following dull but necessary detail of 
money matters : 

SWEDISH MONEY. 

SILVER. 

12 Runstycks make r shilling. 
48 Skillings -— 1 silver dollar or Banco dollar »^ 
1 Silver dollar is worth at par five shillings English.. 



to NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 6. 

PAPER. 

The notes of Government are in plotes, Ricksg-alds, and 
Banco dollars. 

A plote is equal to 16 skillings, or one third of a silver 
dollar, or Is. 8f/. English. This small paper is very 
useful to travellers. 

A PJch.^alds dollar carries an agio of 50 per cent, so 
that one silver dollar is equal to one and a half of a Ricks- 
gal ds dollar. 

A Banco dollar is worth at par 5^. English, the same 
as the silver dollar. 

N. B. Banco money is both coin and paper. 

To the Swedish collector of the customs we paid 

Drs. Mks. Sks. 
For tax and wharfao^e - - 2 12 
Porterag-e - - 1 12 

We paid also a little sum to the custom-house oflBcer for 
a slight search. 

Whilst we were settling these little matters, a young 
fellow, from whose face the picture of honesty might 
have been penciled, with the additional recommendation 
of a military hat, cockade and feather, such as might be- 
long to the rank of a serjeant, made a low bow, and an 
application, which will be more clearly understood when 
the reader is informed that in Sweden, the traveller Avho 
is not willing to wait an hour and a half for his hoi'ses 
at the end of a post, will take special care to dispatch 
some hours before he sets off, an avante courier, called a 
■vorbodc^ who will proceed to the end of the journey for 
a mere trifle per mile Swedish, which is equal to six 
miles and three quarters English, and will order horseS: 
to be ready at the proper post houses, at the hours which 
are mentioned in his instructions. 

The peasants are obliged by law, to furnish the adjoin- 
ing post-houses with a certain number of horses, accord- 
ing to the value of their farms, and are under the control 
of the post-master. The horses are obliged to remain 
twenty -four hours at the post-house : their owners are 
paid for their time and trouble, if a traveller arrives ; if 
not, they lose both. This regulation must be oppres- 
sive to the peasant, and injurious to agriculture, and calb- 



Chap. 6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ST 

loudly for amelioration. The price 'of posting is twelve 
skillings, or eight pence Engiish, for a horse, per Swe- 
dish mile. When the post-house happens to be in a 
town the price is doubled. The object of our visitor 
was to state that he was going to Feltza, (a great part of 
the way to Stockholm) and if we would pay for the hire 
of a little cart and horse he v/ould act as our vorbode, 
and carry some of the luggage : to these terms we soon 
acceded, and he retired to rest in order to start at two 
o'clock in the morning, which he did in a little carriage, 
somewhat of the size and shape of that v.^hich in London 
I have seen drawn by a large mastiff, and filled with dogs* 
ir^eat. Our servant, who had been in Sweden before, 
and knew its characteristic honesty, entrusted him with 
his trunk, to which we added another. Our next care 
was to prepare our rope harness, as our tackling w^s to 
be entirely of a new construction, and to lay in provision 
for the journey, the mo&t valuable part of which was 
some ribs of roasted mutton, cooked after our own fash" 
ion ; but lo ! and behold ! v/hen we rose in the morning, 
our basket in which it had been most carefully deposited, 
had been rifled by some vile dog, and only a mangled 
and indented wreck remained. The unprovided travel- 
ler may vainly expect to find any thing which he can eat 
on the road ; even eggs in this part of the country are a 
rarity. 

As I had it in contemplation ;to spend the winter at 
Venice or Rome, I v/as oblige^^l with regret to proceed 
direct to Stockholm, instead of visiting Carlscrona, the 
celebrated Swedish arsenal, th<i town of which we un- 
derstood was much improved since its revival after the 
dreadful conflagration of 1790, and tliat the new docks, 
hewn out of rocks of granite, as far as they are advan- 
ced, are marveHous monuments of labor and enterprise. 
For the same reason also I v/as obliged to relinquish the 
gratification of seeing Gotheborg, the second city of 
Sweden, and the stupendous falls and works of Trolhsst- 
ta. In these routes I am informed that provisions and 
accommodations are better. A lucky discovery made 
by our good-humored host in his pantry, supplied the 
^leb.ncholy emptiness of our basket, with an admirable. 



8S. NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 6* 

piece of cold stewed beef, and thus provided we com- 
menced our journey. Our servant drove us, attended 
by two peasants, to whom the horses belonged ; one of 
them was seated on the box, and the other stood behind 
the carriage, yet with such a weight our four little hors- 
es conveyed us v.dth the most surprising velocity. The 
animals looked as if Cinderella's protective Genius had 
waved her wand over them, and had raised them from 
mice to the rank of tiny horses : they started in full gal-- 
lop, and scarcely ever slackened their pace, until they 
had reached the end of their post. The peasants drive 
very skilfully, and it is not unusual to see a blooming 
damsel assume the reins. The roads, which are of 
rock, thinly covered with gravel and earth, are said to be, 
and I believe with truth, the finest in the world. We 
accomplished several stages at the rate of thirteen and 
even fourteen English miles an hour. At the end of 
each stage the traveller is presented with a book called a 
dagbok, to enter his name, his age, whence he came, 
whither he is going, the number of horses, and whether 
he is satisfied with his postilion. 

The spring here is scarcely perceived ; and although 
it M'^as the seventeenth of June, the morning air was very 
cold and nipping. Our road lay through Scone or Sca- 
nia, said to be one of the finest provinces of Sweden. 
The nightingale has seldom been known to extend her 
northern visit beyond this province, and even here she 
but feebly pours " her amorous descant." Farther north- 
ward, only magpis, woodpeckers, crows, and birds of 
the rock, are to be found. We passed through forests 
of beech and fir ; many of the latter were blasted, and 
had a very picturesque appearance. The first stage was. 
sixteen English miles, during which the only animated 
creatures we saw, v\^ere a group of dancing goats, and a 
boy with a flageolet going to the fair. Between Astrop 
and Lynngby is one of the most convenient ferries on 
which I ever floated : we drove upon it without any dif- 
ficulty, and V7ere immediately conveyed to the other side. 
At the first post-house v/here we r.topp^d, my astonish- 
s.ient was not a little excited, by the peasants, whirnsic'- 



•t^HAP. 6:] NORTHERN SUMMER. 85 

rJly enough as I then thought, asking us to tell them 
ivhtre their beloved king was. 

The first day we dined at Orke Ginga under the porch 
of a little cottage : the scenery about us was very deso- 
late and dreary. As we skirted some of the lakes, 
which abound in Sweden, we saw the peasant women, 
half-knee deep in water, washing their linen : they looked 
hardy and happy. The architect must ever be governed 
by nature in the size, shape and materials of his building. 
Sweden is one continued rock of granite, covered with 
fir : hence the cottages, which are only one story high, 
and many of the superior houses, are constructed of wood, 
the planks of which are let into each other in a layer of 
moss, cJid the outside is painted of a red color ; the roof 
is formed with the bark of the birch, and covered with 
turf, which generally presents a bed of grass sufliciently 
high for the scythe of the m.ower. The floors of the 
rcoms are strewed Vvith the slips of young fir, which 
give them the appearance of litter and disorder, and the 
smell is far from being pleasant. Nothing can be more 
dreary than winding through the forests, which every 
now and then present to the weary eye little patches 
of cleared ground, where firs had been felled by fire, the 
£tumps of which, to a considerable height, were left in 
-the ground, and, at a distance, resembled so many large 
stones. Inexhaustible abundance of wood induces the 
peasant to think it labor lost to root them up, and they 
remain to augment the general dreariness of the sce- 
nery. 

The population in both the provinces of Scania and 
Smaland is very thinly diffused ; except in the very few 
towns between Flensborg and Stockholm, the abode of 
man but rarely refreshes the eye of the weary traveller. 
At dawn of day, and ail day long, he moves in a forest, 
and at night he sleeps in one. The only birds v.'-e saw were 
woodpeckers. The peasantry are poorly housed and 
clad ; yet amidst such discouraging appearances, their 
cheek boasts the bloom of health and the smile of con- 
tent. Their clothes and stockings are generally of light 
cloth ; their hats raised in the crown, pointed at top, 
with large broad rim, and round their waist they fre- 



S4 NORTHERN- SUMMER. [Chi\¥. 6. 

quentlv v/ear a leathern girdle, to which are fastened two 
knives in a leather case. The country in these pro* 
Tinces appeared to be very sterile ; only small portion's 
of its rocky surface were covered with a sprinkling of 
vegeta,bie mould. 

One day, wearied by the eternal repetition of firs, we 
were, without the least preparation, suddenly enlivened 
by the sounds of a military band, and an abrupt opening 
in the forest displayed, as by enchantment, an encamp- 
ment of a f:ne regiment of the Lindkoping, or, as it is 
pronounced, Lindchipping infantiy : their uniform, which 
is na.donal, is blue faced with yellow. The instantane- 
ous transition from the silence and gloom of woods, to 
the gaiety and bustle of the camp, v/as very pleasing. 

At the next post from this sprightly spot, v/hilst we 
were changing horses, our servant was again addressed 
by a respectable peasant, who with a serious face, asked 
him, as he was a foreigner, to be good enough to tell 
him in what part of the v/orld his beloved king was. Hea- 
vens ! thought I, how strange it is that these virtuous 
people, who are so much attached to their sovereign, 
should not know where he is ; and how happy must that 
prince be who is enquired after with so much affection 
and solicitude ! 

We dined at Johnkopping, or, as the Swedes call it, 
Johnchippig : it is a well-built town of wooden houses, 
situeited on the extremity of the lake Wettern, v/hich is 
about one hundred English miles long. At dinner, here, 
and every where in Sweden, we found that the bread and 
cheese had in them an immense number of carrov/ay 
seeds, by which they were not improved. ' : 

In our road to Grenna we passed by the base of vast 
impending rocks, and commanding a fine view of this 
lake, upon which we saw an island about twelve miics 
long. The Weller lake, v/hich lies further to the north- 
west, has, I am informed, two hundred trading vessels 
upon its bosom, many of v/hich are ships of considerable 
tonnage, and its shores are so wide, that ships are fre- 
quently.out of sight of them. 

I mentioned that sometimes the grass grew very high 
upon the bouses ; a singular instance of this occurred 



ChAtB. 6.3i li^ORTHERN SUMMER, ^5\ 

just before w€ reached Nordkoping, or Norchipping. 
We saw a sheep grazing upon the side of a smith's 
house, which was low ; an adjoining pigsty e had afford- 
ed the poor animal an' easy ascent, and he appeared to 
enjoy himself as comfortably as if he had been in a rich 
w-ell -watered meadow^ 

Nordkoping is in East Gothland, is a- large and hand- 
some town, and ranks third to the capital ; but the ap- 
pearance of so many houses covered with high grass, 
excites an impression of poverty and wretchedness which 
their interior immediately dispels. The principal beauty 
of this place is produced by the waters of the river Mo- 
tala, which, at that part where the principal manufacto- 
ries are, descends in broken masses, with uncommon vio- 
lence, and presents the appearance of a fine cascade. The 
lown has a high mercantile character : its principal rna- 
nufactoiies consist of brass, cloth, paper, and guns. . We 
made a cunous mistake here. On the evening of our 
arrival, after tea^ as we strolled in the streets, we were 
surprised to find them so silent and apparently deserted, 
for v/e only saw very, few persons who were slowly mov- 
ing homewards : at length eleven distinct strokes of the 
church clock satisfied us that sleep had hushed the popu- 
lation of ;the town. At this time the light was equal to 
that of a fine day in London, v/hich, united to our igno- 
rance of the time, and to our having just dmnk tea when 
^ve ought to have supped, produced our error. We were 
pressed the next day to spend it with a very respectable 
inhabitant ; but were obliged to decline his civilities, ixU 
lodging that our horses were ordered. As the little com-: 
pliraent which he paid us is characteristic of the hospi- 
table urbanity of the well-bred people of this country, I 
must he, permitted to state that our amiable friend replied 
— " It is the first time that a Swede ever doubted an Eng- 
" lishman ; but I must attend you. to the inn to see if 
" your reason be a sincere one, that I may reclaim you 
*' if it is not ; and if it is, that I may see the last of you." 

As we ascended the hills which surround Nordkoping, 
the scenery below was highly picturesque and beautiful, 
and is said to resemble that of Swisscrland, consisting of 
vast rocks, lakes, forests of fir, and scattered hamlets : 

H 



86 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 6, 

This was by far the finest prospect which I beheld in 
Sweden. It is singular that- Sweden should abound with 
lakes and rivers, whilst Denmark, an adjoining country, 
should be so destitute of both. Whilst our horses were 
changing at the next post, I walked forward, and was 
much enchanted with the romantic scenery which sur- 
rounded a neat little peasant^s cottage. Out flew my 
sketch-book and my pencil, but the latter would do nor 
thing but write verses. 

A SWEDISH COTTAGE. 

Here, far from all the pomp ambition seeks, 
Much sought, but only whilst untasted prais'd } 

Content and Innocence, with rosy cheeks. 

Enjoy the simple shed their hands have rais'd. 

On a gray rock it stands, whose fretted base 
The distant cataract's murm'ring waters lave ; 

Whilst o'er its grassy roof, with varying grace, 
The slender branches of the white birch wave? 

Behind the forest fir is heard to sigh. 

On which the pensive ear delights to d^veii ; 

And, as the gazing stranger passes by. 

The grazing goat looks up and rings his bell. 

Oh ! in my native land, ere life's decline, 
May such a spot, so wild, so sweet, be mine. 

Fortunate would it be for the peasantry, as well as the 
5 1 aveller, if I could present this cottage as a representa* 
tion of all the cottages in Sweden. In the interior of 
these abodes of simplicity, a stranger is struck with the 
pastoral appearance of lines of large round cakes of bread, 
tnade of rye and oats, as broad as a common plate, and 
about the thickness of a finger, with a hole in the middle, 
throue-h which a string or stick is passed, and suspended 
from the ceilings : this bread is very hard, but sweet. 
The peasants bake only once, at most twice, in the year : 
in times of scarcity they add the bark of the birch well 
pounded, the hard consistency of which requires the jaws 
of a stone-eater to penetrate. The family presents a per- 
petual scene of industry in weaving coarse cloths, spin* 



Chap. 6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ^ 

ring thread, or carcfing flax. They drink a' poor wretch- 
ed beer ; but, in most of their post-houses, a traveller is 
sure to find excellent coffee and sugar. Amongst the 
peasantry we saw several Swedish women with black 
-crape veils : in the winter they afford protection to the 
eye against the glare of the snow ; and, in the summer, 
against the fierce and sparkling reflection of the sun upon 
-the rocks. We were surprised to find that almost the 
only Qurrency of the country was paper. I never saw, 
although I understood the coin had l3een much improved, 
but one bit of silver, from our entering until we quitted 
Sweden.- . . ' 'ly > 

Upon our arrival at Feltja, the last post to the capital, 
our vorbode took leave of us, and expressed very affec- 
tionately his regret that he could not proceed with our 
luggage further. We Were much pleased with his civi- 
lity on the road ; for he halted every evening at the same 
inn with us, and started three or four hours before us 
every morning, to have our horses ready at the different 
posts, and indeed I never saw a more frank, honest look- 
ing fellow. 

We entered the suburbs of Stockholm over a long 
floating bridge under a gate, and, at the custom-house 
which adjoins it, we underwent a rigorous examination, 
which we could neither mitigate by money nor persua- 
sion : it was the delay only that we dreaded. The search, 
however, intmduced us to a very interesting secret. Just 
as I had finished, in my careless way, sitting upon one of 
.the trunks which had been strapped, a little eulogium in 
my memorandum book upon the simple fidelity of our 
young Swede, we discovered the cause of his having so 
tenderly regretted that he could proceed no further with 
us than Feltja. His vorbodeshiji had, duiing his custody 
of our trunks, picked their locks, and mode free with a 
great coat, nankeen breeches, some . shirts and handker- 
chiefs ; but what our poor servant, who partook of the 
loss, regretted most, although I never witnessed greater 
philosophy in grief, was a golden locket, given to him by 
some cherry-]ip*d princess or another, to prevent the usu- 
al effects of time and distance on roving lovers. Somci 
wanderers, like Voltaire's traveller, who observing that 



M NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chat. G. 

the host of the first inn he entered had ^arrotty looks, 
made a memorandum that all the men of that country 
were red haired, would, from this unexpected develope- 
ment, have protested against the honesty af all Sweden^ 
Heavens ! what a fool should I have been, had I permit- 
ted the felonious treachery of this fellow to make me 
think unworthily of a race of men through ages so justljr 
renowned for their valor and their virtue : perhaps Swe- 
den never enrolled this man amongst her children. The 
forbidden friiit too, was placed close to his lips, and ali 
suspicion and vigilance withdrawn ; and forlorn indeed 
v/ould be the condition of society, if property had no 
other protection than an appeal to the virtues of mankinds 
Our misfortune, however, was a feather, compared to that 
which bcfel an English merchant on this very spot a few 
days before, who was proceeding to Petersburg; and, 
as it may operate as a serviceable caution, I shall men- 
tion it. In his packages were some English bonnets,, 
gloves, and shoes, presents to some beloved sisters : the 
rude talons of the law pounced upon the whole col- 
lection, and condemned their unfortunate bearer to the 
penalty of 130/. Having replaced our goods and chat- 
tels, we proceeded, passing through a suburbal part of 
more than an English mile long, terribly paved with 
large unwieldy and unequal stones, and entered the city 
which promised us great gratification. We drove to 
the Hotel Francais., so called perchance, because not a 
•^soul in the house could speak a word of French. Like 
Bottom's ide^, in the Mid&un\mer Night's Dream, " 'I 
<' will get Peter .Quince to write a ballad of this dream i 
'' it shall ]>e called Bottom!' s Dream^ because it -hath no 
^' hottom'^ After groping up a dark winding stone stair- 
case, we were, with much difficulty, shewn into a com- 
fortable suit of apartments. It is surprising that the 
-hotels in Stockholm ^e so few and so bad. 



CftAP. r.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 89 



CHAPTER Vn. 

^sTational ivelcome — Brief descHfition ofStockhoht—->ji^reat 
genius in decline — Painting — Short sketch of Gustavus 
III. — Female stratagem— 'The palace — The state bed — 
The opera house- — Assassination— ^Forgiveness — ,4 hint 
not intended to offend, 

1^1 the morning our slumbers were gently dispelled by 
music, which " came o*er our ears like the sweet 
south." According to the custom of the country seve- 
ral musicians, I believe belonging to the military band, 
serenaded us at our chamber door, with some exquisite 
soft national airs, which induced us to rise. After break- 
fast we ascended an eminence of rock called Mount Mo- 
ses, in the south suburb, from whence we beheld in a 
bird's eye view this singular and beautiful city, which 
appears to be a little larger than Bristol, is situated in 
59 deg. 20 min. of north latitude, and stands upon a small 
portion of two peninsulas and seven islands of grey gra- 
nite, washed by a branch of the Baltic, the lake Maler 
and the streams that flow from it. The palace, a large 
quadrangular building, uniting elegance to grandeur, 
rises from the centre of the city, which it commands in 
all directions. It will be more particularly described af« 
terwards. The merchants' houses, which are in the 
south suburb, run parallel with ' the spacious quay, and 
front the ships which are moored close to it, are lofty, 
and in a graceful style of Italian architecture. Most of 
the buildings, rising amphitheatrically one above another, 
are either stone or brick stuccoed, of a white or light yel- 
low color, and the roofs are covered with dark or light 
brown tiles, and presents with the surrounding scenery 
of scattered half-covered rock, thin forests of fir, the 
lake, and the windings of the Baltic, a most romantic and 
enchanting prospect. The streets are very badly paved. 
The reputation of Sergell the statuary speedily attract- 
ed us to his house, where we beheld his beautiful Cupid 
and Psyche, which he has determined shall not be sold, 
until that event shall have happened which stops and sane- 

H2 



00 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. T. 

tines the works of genius. These figures display the 
finest conceptions of feeling, grace, and elegance, and 
heartily did I rejoice to find it in that country, which I 
trust will never permit it to be removed. In a tempora- 
ry building, we had also the gratification of seeing 
the colossal pedestrian statue of the late Gusta\Tis III. 
in bronze, which had just been cast, and was then polish- 
ing : it is a present from the citizens of Stockholm, and 
will cost when finished, 40,000/. and is intended to com- 
memorate the marine victory, obtained by that illustri- 
ous prince over the Russians, in 1790. The King, with 
a mild but intrepid countenance, which I was informed is 
a most faithful likeness of him, is represented holding 
a rudder in one hand, and extending an olive branch with 
the other : he is attired in the very graceful costume 
which he introduced, resembling that of the old Spanish, 
and the feet are sandaled. It is a noble work of art, and 
may, in all human probability, be considered as the last 
effort of its distinguished author : a pedestal of one solid 
block of porphyry is already raised near the palace to 
receive it upon the quay, which in that part is formed 
into a crescent. 

Sergell, so long and so justly celebrated, is rapidly de- 
scending into the vale of years, and although honored and 
enriched, a morbid melancholy, such as might arise from 
neglect and poverty, disrobes his graceful occupation of 
her attractions, and renders him disgusted "with himself 
and with the world. It has been said, and very justly, 
that only extreixie mental wretchedness can make a man 
indifferent to the applauses of his fellow-creatures : such 
is the forlorn case of the great but hapless Sergell ; the 
friends of his youth have no charm for him, the admira-r 
tion of his countrymen and of foreigners no.exhiliration. 
Visible only to his v/orkmen, and that reluctantly, the il- 
lustrious artist is sinking into the inelancholy misan- 
thrope ; but when his hand shall no longer display its 
skill, taste will worship, and wealth will covet, the mar- 
ble v/hich it has touched, and time will enrol his name 
smongst the most favored sons of Genius. 

In painting, the two Martins, who are brothers, may 
be considered as reflecting considerable honor upon their 



\ 
Chap. 7.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 91 

country ; one of them, I believe' the youngest, has paint- 
ed and engraved a series of views of StockhohTi with 
great fidelity and beauty. 

In the academy of sculpture and painting, raised by 
Adoiphus Frederick, are some fi.ne casts, said to be the 
first impressions of the only moulds ever permitted to be 
taken from the antiques at Rome : they were given to 
Charles XI. by Louis XIV. There are also some casts 
from the bas-reliefs of Trajan's column. The children 
of tradesmen are gratuitously taught to draw in this in- 
stitution, that their minds may be . furnished with ira« 
pressions of taste in those trades which are susceptible 
of them. All the pupils furnish their, own crayons and 
paper : out of the funds of the academy, a certain num- 
ber are sent into foreign countries to improve them- 
selves. The funds, unaided, would be inadequate to 
the object, but the munificence of public spirited indivi- 
duals, which throughout Sweden is very great, has hith* 
erto supplied the deficiency. 

The academy of sciences was founded in 1739, and 
consists of one hundred members and foreign associates. 
Their researclies, reputed to possess considerable learn- 
ing and ability, are published every three months in the 
Swedish language. The cabinet of natural history is 
enriched with several rare collections, particularly 
with subjects which occurred in one of Captain Cook's 
circumnavigations, deposited in the academy of Mr. 
Sparmann. 

Most of the living artists of Sweden owe their eleva- 
tion and consequent fame to the protective hand of the 
late king, Gustavus III., a prince, who, to the energies 
and capacities of an illustrious warrior, united all the re- 
fined elegances of the most accomplished gentleman : 
liis active spirit knew no repose ; at one time the world 
beheld him amidst the most formidable difficulties and 
dangers, leading his fleets to glory in the boisterous bil- 
lows of the Baltic ; at another time it marked him amidst 
the ruins of Italy, collecting with a sagacious eye and 
profuse hand, the rich materials for ameliorating the taste 
und genius of his own country. What Frederic the 
Great was to Berlin, Gustavus the Third was to Stock- 



«2 Northern SUMMER. (CnA^.r. 

■holm : almost every object which embellishes this beau- 
tiful city arose from his patronage, frequently from his 
own designs, and will be durable monuments of that ca- 
pacious and graceful mind, which, had iK>t death arrest- 
ed,would, in the profusion of its munificence, haVe impov- 
erished the country which it adorned. This prince de- 
Tived what hereditary talent he possessed from his moth- 
er Ulrica, who, by a capacious and highly cultivated 
mind, displayed that she was w^orthy of being the sister 
of Frederic the Great. Her marriage with Adolphus 
Frederic v/as the fruit of her ovm unassisted address, 
which, as it has some novelty, I shall relate : The court 
and senate ^of Sweden sent an ambassador incognito to 
Berlin, to watch apd report upon the characters and dis- 
positions of Frederic's two unmarried sisters, Ulrica and 
Amelia, the former of whom had the reputation of be- 
ing very haughty, crafty, satyrical and capricious ; and 
the Swedish court had already pretty nearly determined 
in favor of Amelia, who was remarkable for the attrac- 
tion of her person and the sweetness of her mind. The 
mission of the ambassador was soon buzzed abroad, and 
Amelia was overwhelmed with miisery, on account of 
her insuperable objection to renounce the tenets of Cal- 
vin for those of Luther : in this state of wretchedness 
she implored the assistance of her sister's counsels tt) 
prevent an union so repugnant to her happiness. The 
wary Ulrica advised her to assume the most insolent and 
repulsive deportment to every one, in the presence of 
the Swedish ambassador, which advice she followed, 
whilst Ulrica put on all those amiable qualities which 
her sister had provisionally laid aside : every one, igno- 
rant of the cause, was astonished at the change ; the 
ambassador infomied his court, that fame had complete- 
ly mistaken the two sisters, and had actually reversed 
their reciprocal good and bad qualities. Ulrica was con- 
sequently preferred, and mounted the throne of Swe- 
den, to the no little mortification of Amelia, who too 
fete discovered the stratagem of her sister and her Ad- 
viser. 

A traveller will find much gratification in occasionally 
dining at the merchants' club, to which strangers are in- 



troduced by subscribers ; here vve found the dinners £35- 
rellent, ^nd served up in a handsome style at a very 
moderate expense ; the apartments are elegant, consistr- 
'ing of a noble dinner-room, an anti-room, a billiard-room, 
■and a reading-room where the foreign papers are taken 
in. The view from the rooms over the Mseler, upon the 
Tocky cliffs, crowned with straggling parts of the sub- 
urbs, is very beautifal. There is another club superior 
to this in style and expense, but as the rooms were un- 
"der repair, its meetings ^vere suspended. One -after- 
noon, as I was quitting* the merchants* club to go to the 
church of Ridderholm, the quay in that quarter pre- 
sented an tmcommonly crowded appearance of gaiety 
tind vivacity ; the little canal which runs under the bridge 
leading to the church was covered with boats filled with 
garlands and small j)6les wreathed with flowers ; the old 
and the young, the lame and the vigorous, pressed ea- 
gerly for wad to purchase these rural decorations, desti- 
<ned to honor the festival of St. John, which was to ta-ke 
place the following da3\ 

The national religion of Sweden is Lutheran, birt 
-Avithout jealousy it is pleased with seeing every mtan 
worship his God in his own way. 

The palace is well worthy of notice : it is built of brick 
fituccoed, and stained of a light yellow, the four sides of 
which are visible to the drKerent quarters of- the city. 
This very elegant ediSce w^s -begun by Charles XI. and 
ilnisheiclby Gustavus III. : it is composed of four stories, 
three lai'ge and one small ; in the front are twenty -three 
Oiioble windows ; ten Doric cokimns support a like num- 
ber of Ionic cariatides, surmounted by ten Corinthian 
pilasters ; the roof is Italian. At either end of the grand 
entrance, ^\iiich faces the ne-rth suburbs, is a bronze li- 
on ; the basement story is of granite, and the arch of the 
doors towards the quay are comp>osedof rude masses of that 
rock ; on this side thei-e are parterres over two projecting 
gaileiios, and a garden ; the chapel is very rich, and op- 
posite to it is tl>e hall for the meeting of the Erstates, where 
the seats are amphitheatrically arranged, those of the no- 
bles on the right of the throne, and those of the clergy, 
the bourgeois, and peasants on the left j there is a gallery 



94 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, f, 

round it, and the whole has a grand effect. As only 
the senators and their ladies have the privilege of enter-' 
ing the grand court in their carriage on court days, those 
who are not possessed of this rank are as much exposed 
in bad weather as the English ladies of fashion are when 
they pay their respects to their Majesties at St. James's, 
where many a fair one enveloped in a mighty hoop, is 
frequently obliged to tack according to the wind. Not 
many years since, an erect stately duchess dowager, in 
endeavoring to reach her carriage, right in the wind's 
eye, was completely blown down. 

I considered myself fortunate in seeing the King's 
museum immediately after the opening of several pack- 
ages containing five hundred valuable paintings and an- 
tique statues from Italy, where they had been purchas- 
ed about eleven years since, by Gustavus III., but 
owing to the French revolution and the wars which it 
engendered, were prevented from reaching the place of 
their destination before : they lay in great confusion, 
and some of them v/ere much damaged. Amongst the 
antinque statues were those of Cicero and Caracalla, won- 
derfully fine. The state rooms are on the third story^ 
to which there is a most tedious ascent, under arcades 
of porphyry. Prince Charles's apartments, which are 
the first, are superb : his little drawing-room is well 
worthy of notice, the seats of which are in the form of 
a divan : at their back is a vast magnificent horizontal 
mirror, the frame of which is of yellow and purple- 
colored glass, and was presented by the reigning Empe- 
ror of Russia. The Queen's apartments are elegant, 
but the windows are old fashioned, heavy, very large, 
high from the floor, and look into a qua.dranguar' court; 
however, if they command no fine scenes in the sum- 
mer, they are warmer in the winter, a better thing of 
the two in such a climate. There are several pretty 
little rooms, called cozing or chit-chat rooms ; nothing 
could be more neat, snug, and comfortable, or better 
adapted for the enjoyments of unrestrained conversation> 
The King's apartments are very handsome, some of the 
rooms are adorned with beautiful Gobeline tapestry from 
Paris. 



Chap. 7.] NORTHERN SUMMER, §5 

The chamber most interesting to us was that in 
which Gustaviis III. expired. We saw the bed on 
which he lay, from the time that he was brought wound- 
ed to the palace from the masquerade at the opera-house, 
until he breathed his last. In this room it was that the 
dying prince personally examined his murderer Anker- 
^ti'oem, when he confessed his guilt, and was immedi- 
ately ordered to retire. The general circumstances of 
this melancholy catastrophe are well known ; perhaps 
it may not be as generally so, that Ankerstroem preserv- 
ed such resolute coolness at the time of the perpetration 
of the deed, that, in order to make sure of his mark, as 
the King, who was dressed in a loose Domino, and with- 
out a mask, was reclining, a little oppressed by the heat, 
against one of the side scenes, Ankerstroem placed his 
hands upon the back of the Sovereign, who, upon feeling 
him, turned shortly round, when the regicide fired. — 
The King, who thought that he was a victim to French 
machinations, as he fell, excl?imed, " My assassin is a 
" Frenchman i" the consolation of the illustrious Duke 
d*Enghein was denied him. The hero, the friend, and 
the idol of Sweden, perished by the hands of a Swede. 
As soon as this outrage was known, the most eminent 
surgeons flew to his relief. The first words which the 
Kin^ uttered, were to request that they would give him 
their candid opinion, observing, with great serenity, that 
if he had only a few hours to live, he would employ 
them in arranging the affairs of the state, and those of 
his family ; and that, in such an extremity, it would be 
unavailing to augment his pains, and consume his time, 
in dressing his wound. The surgeon having examined 
it, assured his Majesty that it was not dangerous ; in 
consequence of this opinion he permitted it to be dressed, 
and was conveyed to the palace. The next day an in- 
teresting and affecting scene took place ; the Countess 
Fersen, the Count Brahe, and the Baron de Geer, who 
had absented themselves for a looig period from court, 
were the first to enquire after the health of the King, 
who requested them to enter the room where he was, 
and received them with the most touching goodness, ex- 
pressing the cordial delight which he felt in seeing them 



t6. NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chab..^. 

tlnisfoTget tlieir animosities in these memorable words : 
*' My wound is not without a blessing, since it restorer 
"to me my friends," He languished in great torment 
for eighteen days. It is generally supposed that the. 
malignant spirit of politics had no influence in this horri- 
ble outrage, but that he fell the victim of private revenue, 
and fanatical disappointment. Several young men, who 
thought themselves aggrieved by the neglect of their 
prince, w^re concerned in this conspiracy ; but it waSh 
his dying request, which was observed, that only Anker- 
stroem should suffer death. Upon, the tomb of thisv 
brave, eloquent, and magnanimous prince^ should: ba 
engraved the beautiful and beneficent sentence that ap-* 
pears in the new form of government with which he pre-> 
sented the Swedes at the time of the memorable, revolu- 
tion. " I regard it as the greatest honor to be the first 
*' citizen amongst a free people." It has been asserted, 
and I believe with truth, that his sensibility towards the- 
female sex was far from being lively : he seldom cohab- 
ited with his Queen. Strange to tell, gifted with acute 
feelings, and a warm and brilliant imagination, this ac- 
complished prince, of a i^ce of beautiful women, dis^ 
played an example of almost monkish continence. But 
that love had not wholly renounced his heart, we may. 
infer from an anecdote o£ a little picture, which adorns 
one of the apartments of the palace : it is a portrait of a 
lovely young woman, of w^hom the King became ena- 
mored during his tour in Italy. Upon hearing of her 
death, he is said to have shed tears, and displayed all the 
impassioned indications of an afflicted lover. The royal 
library is very valuable, containing twenty thousand 
volumes, and four hudred- manuscripts. Amtongst the 
collection are some precious books, particularly one. 
called the Codex Aureus^ from the great number of gilt- 
letters which it contains. There are also two enormous 
latin MSSi, the vellum leaves of which are made of 
as$es' skins, and are of an amazing siz^. 

The Prince Royal, or heir apparent, a child between 
six and seven years of age, inhabited a part of this pal- 
ace, which, instead of presenting the gay bustle of a 
cpurtj bore all the apj)earance of neglect and desertion* 



Chap. 7.] NORTHERN SUMMER. #r 

The mysterious questions of the rustic, were explained. 
The people of Sweden had not been gladdened with the 
presence of their young Sovereign and his beautiful 
Queen, to whom they are devotedly and deservedly at- 
tached, for a long space of time, during which the 
court had been removed to the territory of the Prince of 
Baden, the father of the Queen of Sweden. The effect 
of such an absence was felt and deplored every where. 
No doubt the virtuous suggestions of his own heart will 
speedily restore the King to his people, and another 
traveller will have the gratification which was denied me, 
of seeing him in the bosom of his country, where a 
Prince always appears to the most advantage. The King 
is said to possess a very amiable mind, and to regard the 
memory of his illustrious father with enthusiastic adora- 
tian : I contemplated a powerful proof of it in an obe- 
lisk of one solid block of porphyry, forty feet high, 
which is at once a monument of his taste and piety. I 
should not be doing justice to the King, were I not to 
mention the abhorrence which he, in common with his 
subjects, has manifested at the cold-blooded outrage 
committed against the person of the devoted Duke 
d'Enghein. 

The opera-house, built by Gustavus III., is an ele- 
gant square building ; upon the architrave is inscribed, 
" Patris AfusisJ' The front is adorned with Corinthian 
columns and pilasters: the interior, which is small, and 
cannot contain above nine hundred persons, is in the 
;form of a broken ellipsis ; and, even by day-Ught (for 
^tKere was no performance during our stay), appeared to 
^be superbly decorated. The dresses and decorations of 
the performers, which solely belong to the crown, we 
,^ere informed, are of great value ; and in these respects 
, the Swedish opera is said to surpass every other in Eu- 
^irope. The royal seats are in the pit. Swedish plays are 
performed here, many of which were composed by the 
accomplished Gustavus III., whose taste in that species 
of composition excited the literary jealousy of old Fred- 
-feric the Great. It was an admirable policy, worthy of 
' such a genius as Gustavus, to attach a nation to its own 
language, by making it that of the stage ; the surest, 

I 



»8 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 7. 

because the mostfiattering mode of raising it to its utmost 
polish. The first Swedish opera ever performed, was 
Thetis and Peleus : the favorite national piece is Gusta^ 
vus Veisa. Upon the death of Gustavus III., the opera 
lost much of its attraction. When it is, considered that, 
in his time, a ballet occupied ninety personages of the 
light fantastic toe, and put into activity no less than eigh- 
ty fancy-dress makers, it was necessary that the pruning- 
knife should be used to curtail these luxuriant suckers of 
the state, the graceful, but too costly growth of a prince- 
ly and munificent mind. In this building there are some 
very handsome apartments for the King's private par- 
ties. I had much to regret that no plays were perform- 
ed here during my stay. 

The female, who shewed me the building, was much 
affected when she pointed to the spot where Ankerstro- 
cm comniitted the bloody deed. Alas ! how inscrutable 
are the ways of Heaven 1 When the illustrious victim 
raised this beautiful fabric from the ground, he little 
thought of the part which he was to perform in the san- 
guinary scene of the seventeenth of March, 1792, and 
that mimic sorrow was to yield to genuine woe. This 
structure, and the opposite palace of the Princess Sophia 
Albertina, the King's aunt, which is uniform with the 
former, form the sides of a handsome square called la 
Place du A^ordj and is adorned in the centre with a fine 
equestrian sta.tue, in bronze, of Gustavus Adolphus, 
who, excepting his head, which is crowned with laurel, 
is in complete armor, and in his right hand is an inclined 
truncheon : the horse has much animation and the rider 
great elegance. This colossal statue was cast from the 
designs of Archeveque, a very distinguished French sta- 
tuary, who dying before it was finished, left its comple- 
tion to the masterly hand of Sergell : it was erected in 
1790. The latter has introduced the figures of History 
pointing to an inscription on the pedestal, and of the 
Chancellor Oxenstiern. The pedestal, which is of gra- 
nite, is decorated by medallions of the principal favorite 
generals of Gustavus Adolphus, viz. Torstenson, Baner, 
James de la Gardie, Horn, and Saxe Weimar : all by 
Sergell, The unbounded friendship and confidence which 



Chap, f.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ## 

existed between this great Prince and the upright Ox- 
en stiern, form the theme of historic delight; and the gentle 
counteraction of their mutual, and rather opposite, char- 
acters, rendered each the idol and the benefactor of his coun- 
try. It is said that Gustavus having, upon some affair of 
state, observed to Oxenstiern,that he was cold and phleg- 
matic, and that he checked him in his career, the Chancel- 
lor replied : " Sire, indeed I own that I am cold : but 
" unless I had occasionally tempered and moderated 
" your heat, you would have been burnt up long ago." 
Gustavus Adolphus never engaged in any battle, without 
first praying at the head of his troops ; after which he 
used to thunder out, in a strong and energetic manner, 
a German hymn, in which he was joined by his whole 
army: the effect of thirty or forty thousand people thus 
singing together was wonderful and terrible. He used 
to say, that a man made a better soldier in proportion to 
his being a better Christian, and there was no person so 
happy as those who died in the performance of their du- 
ty. Of the death of this great hero, it was said, " that 
" he died with his sword in his hand, the word of com- 
" mand in his mouth, and with victory in his imagina- 
" tion." Only the complimentary part of the following 
witty epigram, which was made upon the equestrian stat- 
ue of Louis Xni., which formerly stood in the Place des 
Victoires in Paris, with the four cardinal virtues standing 
round it, would apply to that of Gustavus Adolphus : 

O le beau monument ! O le beau pedestal ! 
Les Venues sont a pied, et le Vice a cheval. 

Oh ! noble statue> noble pedestal ! 

Vice proudly rides, the Virtues are on foot. 

In front of this statue, to the south, the eye with pleasure 
contemplates an elegant stone bridge, not quite finished, 
crossing a rapid stream of the Msler, at the end of which 
the palace displays a majestic and highly graceful back 
scene : this spot presents the finest architecture in the 
city. 

The traveller will be gratified, by noticing the beauti- 
ful colonnade of solid porphyry which forms the entrance 



XHt) NORTHEHN SUMMER. [Chap. 7. 

to the grand stair-case of the Princess Sophia Albertina's 
palace. A tasteful observer must regret that these ex- 
quisite columns are so much concealed. The streets of 
the Queen and of the Regency, in the north quarter, are 
by farthe most handsome, and form the residence of fash- 
ion. The spire and church of Ridderholm, rising from 
the centre of the principal island, add to the romantic 
beauties of the surrounding scenery. The interior of 
this edifice, which is large and heavy, is only v/orthy of 
notice, on account of its containing the ashes of such 
illustrious personages as Gustavus Adolphus, and his 
equal in bravery, but neither in prudence or justice, 
Charles XIL, who carried the system of daring to pret* 
ty nearly its utmost extent, and, in his end, verified the 
•words of the great dramatist : 

«* Glory is like a circle in the water 

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, 

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought." 

The tomb of the latter is very simple and characteristic : 
it is of black marble, upon which are thrown a lion's 
skin and club, in bright yellow bronze. In another part 
of the building are the ashes of a general much more en- 
titled to the admiration of posterity, the illustrious Johri 
Baner , Avho was deservedly the favorite of the great 
Gustavus Adolphus, and who, after a series of splendid 
Tictovies, expired on the tenth of May, 1641. 



Chap. 80 NORTHERN SUMMER. 101 



CHAPTER Vni. 

A visit in the country^-^Observatorij — Dinner and Fashions 
'-'Blooming girls of DelecarU.a——Drottingholm— 'Queen 
Christina's Cunning — JVardrobe of Charles XII. — .. 
Beauty — Concealment and prudery— 'J^ational import- 
ance of a British advocate— Contrasted justice — Kaga 
— Cause of the fnendship of Gustavus III. for Sir Sid- 
ney Smith i singular anecdote — wi revieiv—-^Irott 

JMin eS'—'Linn ceus. 

AN invitation into the country enabled U3 to contem- 
plate a little of the rural character of the Swedes, 
In our way we passed by the observatory, which stands 
upon an inconsiderable eminence in the north suburbs : 
its horizon is too circumscribed on account of the rocks 
which surround it ; and as the artificial . heat of stoves 
would cloud the glasses in the v/inter nights, which are 
the best for observation, it is of very little utility. Our 
ride to our friends was occasionally very beautiful, but 
the funereal heads of our old acquaintences the firs Were 
ever and anon presenting themselves, and shedding mel- 
ancholy upon us. The chateau to which vre were in- 
vited was of vrood, small, but very tastefully fitted up : 
the grounds, which were very extensive, were delight- 
fully laid out, and on one side rippled the waters of the 
Mseler, embellished by vessels of various sizes gliding- 
upon its tranquil bosom. A short time before dinner 
was announced, a table was set out with bread, cheese, 
butter, and liqueurs : all these good things in this hos- 
pitable region are considered as mere preparatives for 
the meal which is to follow ; amongst the superior or- 
ders this custom is universal. Our dinner was in the 
following order : pickled fish, meats^ soups, fish, pastry^ 
ice, and dried fruits ; preserved gooseberries formed the 
sauce of the mutton, and the fish floated in a new ele- 
ment of honey ; by the bye it rather surprises a stranger 
to meet with so little sea-fish in a country which is wash-> 
ed by so many seas. The herring fishery, which has 
hitherto been of so much importance to Sweden, has 

12 



102 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 8. 

nearly disappeared. To return to our dinuer : each 
dish was carved and handed round, as in Denmark ; a 
regulation truly delightful to one who abhors carving 
and carves badly. 

The spirit of French fashion, but a little disciplined, 
reigns in Sweden, and gives a lightness and elegance to 
dress : the table, and the furniture, and even their man- 
ners, partake considerably of its gaiety, except that as 
soon as our amiable and elegant hostess arose, upon our 
rising at the same time, we stood solemnly gazing upon 
each other for half a minute, and then exchanged pro- 
found bows and courtsies ; these being dispatched, each 
gentleman tripped off with a lady under his arm, to cof- 
fee in the drav/ing-room. Nothing else like formality 
occurred in the course of the day. 

Just as we were quitting this spot of cordial hospital- 
ity, we were stopped by the appearance of two fine fe- 
male peasants from the distant province of Delecarlia : 
their sisterhood partake very much of the erratic spirit 
and character of our Welch girls : they had travelled 
all the way on foot, to offer themselves as hay -makers ; 
their food on the road was black bread and water, and 
their traveliing wardrobe a solitary chemise, which as 
cleanliness demanded, they washed in the passing brook, 
and dried on their healthy and hardy frame, which, 
hov/ever, was elegantly shaped ; the glov/ of Hebe was 
upon their dimpled cheeks, not a little heightened by the 
sun, " which had made a golden set upon them ;" their 
eyes were blue, large, sweet, and expressive ; their dress 
was singular, composed of a JEicket and short petticoat 
of various colors : and they were mounted upon wooden 
shoes with prodigious high heels, shod with iron. There 
was an air of neatness, innocence, delicacy, and good 
humor about them, which would have made even a bil- 
ious spectator happy to look upon them. Unextinguish- 
able loyalty, great strength of body, content, and sweet- 
ness of temper, beauty of face and symmetry of person, 
are said to be the characteristics of the Delecarlian 
mountaineers, a race rendered for ever celebrated in the 
history of one of the greatest men that ever adorned 
the historic page of Sweden, Gustavus Vasa. It is tlius 



Chap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 103 

he describes them, after he has discovered himself to 
them ill the mines, in the beautiful language of the bard, 
v/hose dramatic genius has conspired to render his hero 
immortal : 



here last I came, 



And shut me from the s\in, whose hateful beams 

Serv'd but to shew the ruins of my country. 

When here, my friends, 'twas here- at length I found 

What I had left to look for, gallant spirits, 

la the rough form of untaught peasantry. 

Yes, I will take these rustic sons of Liberty 

In the first warmth and hvirry of their souls ; 

And should the tyrant then attempt our heights. 

He comes upon his fate. 

Led on by Gustavus Vasa, they restored liberty to their 
country, and expelled the bloody tyrant miscalled Chris- 
tia?2. These, too, were the peasants, who, having heard 
in the midst of tl^eir mines and forests that their sove- 
reign Charles XII. was a prisoner in Turkey, dispatched 
a deputation to the Regency at Stockholm, and offered 
to go, at their own expense, to the number of twenty 
thousand men, to deliver their royal master out of the 
hands of his enemies. Their sovereigns have ever 
found tiieixi the incorruptible and enthusiastic supporters 
of the throne. Surrounded with treason and peril, 
their king has found them faithful amongst the faith- 
less, and never sought their succor in vain. In conse- 
quence of the terrible defection which appeared in the 
Swedish army in the campaign of the year 1788 against 
the Russians, when, ov/ing to the machinations of tlie 
Swedish traitor Sprengporten, who was in the pay of the 
Empress Catherine, the Swedish officers, although con- 
fident of victory, refused to march, because Gustavus 
III. had commenced the war without consulting the es- 
tates, the King was compelled to retire to Stockholm, 
where the insolence and intrigues of the nobility threat- 
ened the reduction of his regal rights to the mere phan- 
tom of sovereignty. Menaced vvith revolt and assassina- 
tion, this great prince, attended by a single domestic, in 
secrecy reached the mountains of Delecarlia, the Z7w- 
moveable seat of Swedish loyalty-) v/here, with ail that bold, 



104 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 8^ 

affecting, and irresistible eloquence, for which he was 
so justly famed, upon the rock on which, in elder times, 
their idol Gustavus Vasa had addressed them, he in^k- 
ed them to rally round the throne, and preserve their 
Sovereign from the cabals of treason. At the sound of 
his voice they formed themselves into battalions, with - 
electric celerity, and encreasing as they advanced, pro- 
ceeded under the commiand of Baron Armfelt to Drot- 
tingholm, where they overawed the factious. At this 
very period, an unexpected disaster miade fresh demands 
upon the inexhaustible resources of Gustavus's mind, 
which encreased with his emergencies. The Prince of- 
Hesse, at the head of twelve thousand men, marched 
from Norway to Gottenborg, at the gates of which, at 
a late hour, the King having surmounted great difficulties 
in his way through Wermlandia, presented himself, and 
the next morning surprised the Danish herald, by in- 
forming him in person from the ramparts, that sooner 
than surrender the place, the garrison should be buried 
under its ruins, and accordingly ordered the bridge over 
the river Gothael to be burnt. It is well known, that the 
wise and active mediation of Mr. Elliot, our then minis- 
ter at Copenhagen, prevailed upon the Prince of Hesse 
to retire. To return to the Delecarlians : the dress of the 
men is always of a grey or black coarse cloth, and, on 
account of the many services which they have rendered 
to government, and their proved patriotism, they enjoy 
the flattering and gracious privilege of taking the King*s 
hand wherever they meet him : the pressure must ever 
be delightful to both parties. From the mountains of 
health and liberty, Gustavus III. selected the wet-nurse 
of the present King, that, with her milk, he might im- 
bibe vigor and the love of his country. This woman 
was the wife of a Delecarlian peasant, lineally descended 
from the brave and honest Andrew Preston, who preserv- 
ed Gustavus Vasa fromi the murderers who were sent in 
pursuit of him by Christian. The houses of the Dele- 
carlian peasants are as simple as their owners are virtu- 
ous : they have but one hole in the roof, exposed to the 
south, v/hich answers the double purpose of a window 
and a clock ; their meals are regulated by the sun*s ray a 



V 



Chaf. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 10^ 

upon a chest, placed beneath this hole on one side ; or 
upon the stove, mth which all the Swedish houses are 
warmed, standing on the other. 

We were much gratified with the palace of Drotting- 
holm : a pleasant drive of about ten miles brought us to 
the island on which it stands in the lake Mseler ; the 
road to it lay through rocks covered with firs, and over 
two large floating bridges ; the building is large but light, 
and is of brick stuccoed white ; the hall and stair-case 
are in bad taste ; their ornaments are white upon a dark 
brown ground, resembling sugar plumbs upon ginger- 
bread. The state rooms are very rich and elegant, and 
Sin Englishman is much gratified to find in the library a 
very large and choice collection of English authors. 
There is a beautiful picture here of a weeping Ariadne, 
by Wertmeller, a Swedish artist, who, unfortunately for 
his country, has for ever left it, and settled in America. 

Whenever I reflect upon a neglected artist of merit, a 
delightful little anecdote, which is related of Francis I, 
always occurs to me : that sovereign having received a 
picture ef St. Michael from the hand of Raphael d'Urbi- 
no, which he much coveted, be remunerated Raphael 
far beyond what his modesty conceived he ought to re- 
ceive : the generous artist, however, made him a pres- 
ent of a Holy Family, painted by himself, which the 
courteous mxonarch received, saying, that persons famous 
in the arts partake of the immortality of princes, and 
are upon a footing with them. 

In this palace there is the head of a Persian Sybil, in 
mosaic, exquisitely beautiful, and two costly and elegant 
presents from the late Empress Catharine II. of tables of 
lapis lazuli and Siberian agate. There are also some ex- 
quisite statues in alabaster and marble, and Etruscan 
vases, purchased in Italy by Gustavus III. during his 
southern tour. The Etruscan vases are very beautiful ; 
but in tone of color, classical richness, elegance and va- 
riety of shape, not equal to those which I had previously 
seen in England at Gillwell Lodge, the seat of William 
Chinnery, Esq., who unquestionably has the finest pri- 
vate collection of this land in England, perhaps in Eu- 
rope. 



106 NORTHERN SUMIS^ER. [Chap. S^ 

There is here a portrait of that eccentric personage. 
Queen Christiana, who abdicated the throne of Sweden 
in 1660, and left to her successor, Charles X., the costly 
discovery that, amidst all her wdiimsical caprices, she 
had taken good care to clear most of the palaces of their 
rarest furniture previous to her retiring to Rome : pick- 
ing out even the jewels of the crown before she resigned 
it. So completely had she secured every thing that was 
valuable, that Charles X. was obliged to borrow several 
necessary utensils for his coronation. This loss, for I 
suppose it must not be called a depredation, has been 
amply restored by the taste and munificence.of Gustavus 
III. In the state sleeping-chamber, the royal banner of 
light blue and silver was fixed at the foot of the bed, 
and had a very chivalrous appearance. In the garden, 
there is a theatre, which is large and handsome ; but 
since the death of Gustavus HI., who was much attached 
to this place, and made it the seat of his brilliant festivi- 
ties, it has been little used. In the gardens there is a 
range of snlhall houses in the Chinese taste, but neither 
the former nor the latter are worthy of much notice. 

After our return from Drottingholm we gained admis- 
sion, but with much difficulty, to the arsenal. This de- 
pot of military triumphs is a brick-building, consisting of 
a ground floor, with lofty windows down to the ground, 
stands at the end of the King's gardens, the only mall of 
Stockholm, and has all the appearance of a large green- 
house. The artillery, which is planted before it, has the 
ridiculous effect of being placed there to defend the most 
precious of exotic trees within from all external enemies, 
who either move in air or pace the earth. The contents, 
alas ! are such fruits " as the tree of war bears," and well 
deserve the attention of the traveller and antiquary. 
Here is an immense collection of trophies and standards 
taken from the enemies of Sweden, and a long line of 
stuffed kings, in the actual armor which they wore, 
m^ounted upon wooden horses, painted to resemble, and 
as large as life, chronologically arranged. I was particu- 
larly struck with the clothes of Charles XII. which he 
wore when he was killed at the seige of Frederickshall, 
and very proudly put them on, viz. a long shabby blu« 



Chap.s.] northekn summer. lor 

frock of common cloth, with lai'ge flaps and brass buttons, 
2i little greasy low cocked had, a handsome pair of gloves, 
fit to have touched the delicate hands of the Countess of 
Koningsmarck, a pair of stiif high-heeled Biiiitary boots, 
perhaps it was one of those which he threatened to send 
to the senate at Stockholm, to which they were to apply 
for orders until his return, when they were impatient at 
his absence during his mad freaks in Turkey. As it is 
natural to think that great souls generally inhabit large 
bodies, my surprise was excited by finding that when I 
had completely buttoned the frock of this mighty mad- 
man upon my greyhound figure, miy lungs gave sensible 
tokens of an unusual pressure from without. I must be 
indulged in giving the following extract from an account 
of this marvellous madcap, which was given by a person 
who had seen him, and who thus speaks of him : " His 
" coat is plain cloth, with ordinary brass buttons, the 
*' skirts pinned up behind and before, v/hich shews his 
<' Majesty's old leather waistcoat and breeches, which 
" they tell me are sometimes so greasy that they may 
<' be fried. But when I saw him they were almost new ; 
'• for he had been a gallant a little before, and had been 
« to see King Augustus' Queen upon her return from 
^< Leipsic, and, to be fine, he put on those new leather 
*' breeches, spoke not above three words to her, but talk- 
" ed to a foolish dwarf she had about a quarter of an hour, 
" and then left her. His hair is light brown, very grea- 
" sy, and very short, never cojnbed but tuith hisjingers. 
" At dinner he eats a piece of bread and butter, which he, 
" spreads with his thumbs." 

Think of all this as applied to " the most powerful 
" among the kings that worship Jesus ; redresser of 
" wrongs and injuries, and protector of right in the 
" ports and republics of south and north ; shining in ma- 
" jesty^ love of honor and glory, and of our sublime Porte 
" — Charles, King of Sweden, whose enterprizes may 
<' God crown with success." 

The said blood-besprinkled gloves, and bullet-pierced 
hat, have furnished abundant and fatiguing sources of 
vague and violent disputation : pages, nay volumes, have 
been written, to ascertain whether the death of Ch.'U'les 



K^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. «. 

-was fair or foul : a fact to be found only in the records of 
Heaven, and of small import to be known here. Let the 
blow have been given from whatever hand it may, Swe- 
den had good reason to bless it, and happy are those who 
live in times which furnish but little of such materials 
for the page of history as Charles supplied. 

Though Charles wa.s said to possess a great coldness 
of character, the following anecdote will shew that he was 
susceptible of flattery : whilst the batteries of the citadel 
of Fredeiickshall were firing heavily at the enemy's 
trenches, a young woman who was looking at the King 
from an adjoming house, dropped her ring into the street : 
Charles observing her Scdd, " Madam, do the guns of this 
<' place always make such an uproar ?" " Only wlien w^-e 
<' have such iilustrious visitors as your Majesty," replied 
the girl. The King was niixh plea.sed, and ordered one of 
his soldiers to return the ring. This extraordinary being 
must have sometimes excited the smiles, as he often did 
the tears of mankind. After the Turks, irritated by his 
refusal to depart, were obliged to burn his house over his 
head, and by main force send him to Bender, Charles XII. 
a fugitive, attended only by a few wretched follov/ers 
ruined, and his coffers completely exhausted, wrote to his 
€nvoy at the court of Louis XIV. to send him the exact 
ceremonials of that brilliant and magnificent court that 
he might immediciteiy adopt them. 

Hurried away by kings, palaces, and statues, I have to 
my shame (my cheek reddens whilst I write) staid thus 
long in Stockholm ere I noticed those, without whom a 
crown is unenviable, the most magnificent abode cheer- 
less, and of whom the most graceful images of art are 
but imperfect imitations. The Swedish ladies are in ge- 
neral remarkably well shaped, cjj bon point and have a 
fair transparent delicacy of complexion, yet, though the 
favorites of bountiful nature, strange to relate, they are 
more disposed to conceal than display those charms, 
which in other countries, with every possible assistance, 
the fair possessor presents to the enraptured eye to the 
best advantage. A long gloomy black cloak covers the 
beautiful Swede v^hen she walks, confounding all the dis- 
tinctions of symmetry and deformity ; and even her pretty 



Chap. 8.1 NORTHERN SUMMER, iOi* 

feet, which are as neat and as well turned as those of 
a fine Frenchwoman, are seldom seen without the aid of 
a favoring breeze. Even the sultry summer has no in- 
fluence in withdrawing this melancholy drapery, but I 
am informed that it is less worn now than formerly : of- 
ten have I wished that the silk-worm had refused his 
contribvition towards this tantalizing concealment : occa- 
sionally the streets of Stockholm displayed some bewitch- 
ing seceders from the abominable habit. This custom 
arises from the sumptuary laws which forbid the use of 
colored silks. 

The Swedish ladies are generally highly accomplish- 
ed, and speak with fluency English, French, and Ger- 
man, and their tenderness and sensibility by no means 
partake of the severity of their northern latitude ; yet 
they exhibit two striking characteristics of whimsical 
prudery : in passing the streets a Swedish hidy never 
looks behind her, nor does she ever w^elcomethe approach 
or cheer the departure of a visitor by permitting him to 
touch the cherry of her lips ; the ardent admirer of 
■beauty must be content to see that 



Welcome ever smiles. 



And farewell goes out sighing. 

This chilling custom is somewhat singular, when it is 
•considered that the salutation of kissing, even between 
man and man, hateful as it is to an \intravelied English- 
man, prevails almost in every part of the continent.^ 

I was very desirous of attending the courtso f justice, or 
as they are called the k (dinner s-ratteryoi which there are 
Tour in Stockholm, but I found they were ail close, and 
only the judges and parties and necessary officers per- 
mitted to enter. What a contrast to the unreserved open- 
ness with which the laws in England are administered ! 
By unfolding the gates of justice, and displaying her in 
all her awful majesty, her ordinances become widely pro- 
mulgated, and the respect paid to her decrees augmented 
•by the reverence which is excited by her presence ; her 
seat is not only tlie depository of the law, but of all de- 
scriptions of learning, and is a school of eloquence in 
which the language of the country receives its hio-hest 

K 



no NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^. 

polish. Of what national importance the powers of afl 

illustrious advocate may become, let those say, who have 
witnessed the brilliant genius, exalted persuasion and 
profound knowledge of an Erskine, and can trace their 
consequences to a country which knovrs hoAv to appre- 
ciate them. The laws of Sweden are considered to be 
simple, mild, clear, and just, and since the labors of Gus- 
tavus III. to render them so, have been impartially ad- 
ministered. In civil causes each- party pays his own 
coEts ; this m^ust frequently be unjust ; but whilst Svre- 
den, however, may learn something from the manner in 
which the laws are dispensed in England, she presents 
to our admiration a spirit v/hich we should do well to im- 
itate : the prosecutor sustains no share whatever of the 
expenses of prosecuting a crimmal. 

In England there is a highly important society, first 
established by the celebrated Sir John Fielding, the ob- 
jects of which are actively and ably conducted by its so- 
licitor and secretary, S* S. Hunt, Esq. for prosecuting 
felons. These objects are to prevent the impunity 
which too frequently follows depredation, from the 
heavy extra expenses which often attend the discovery, 
apprehension, and trial, of delinquents, by raising a year- 
ly subscription fund to indemnify the suffering individu- 
al who prosecutes in the name of the Crown. How a 
foreigner who takes a keen and close peep at us, must 
be surprised to observe an institution, which, whilst it 
exhibits the patriotic spirit of individuals, reflects with 
not a little justified severity, upon the absence of a legis- 
lative provision, which is of so much consequence to 
the country. It may be said, that there are a certain 
description of these expenses wiiich a judge in his dis- 
cretion may allow uiion apfilication. The natural pride 
of a respectable British subject, to whom such expen- 
ses may prove sJi object, ought not, in the performance 
of a great public duty, in which the repose of the nation 
is concerned, and the King in consequence the avov/ed 
and recorded prosecutor, to be put to the blush by ask- 
in sr for it mfoi'ma paufieris. This most just indemnity 
ou'o-ht to form a part of the law of the land. By another 
admirable provision Sweden is enabled to ascertain the 



Chap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. U:l 

^tate of her population every tfcird year, and which is 
effected by the periodical returns from the clergymen 
and magistrates, of the births, deaths, marriages, ' and 
the number of inhabitants that are living in their sever- 
al districts, a measure highly worthy of adoption in Eng- 
land. 

The laws of Sweden, the most novel to an English - 
•man, are those by which primogeniture is disrobed of 
those exclusive rights which attach to it in other coun- 
tries : all the matle children of a nobleman are equally 
fioble, but to prevent the confusion of numbers, the eld- 
iCst only, upon the decease of the father, represents the 
family at the Diet, and all inheiitances are equally di- 
vided, but created property is subject to tlie will of the 
father. 

The punishments in Swe^ien are beheading, hangings 
whipping, and imprisonment : the three former are in- 
flicted in the market-place ; the instrument of flagellation 
is a rod of tough/i5irch twigs. There is a horrid custom 
in Sweden, as odious as our hanging malefactors in 
chains, of exposing the naked bodies of delinquents who 
•have suffered death, extended by their limbs to trees un- 
til they rot. Two or three of these shocking objects oc- 
cur in terrorem upon the road from Gotheberg to Stock- 
liolm, on account of its being a greater thorough fare," and 
•more robberies having been committed there. The cri- 
Tnina.1 laws of Sweden may be considered as mild, and 
the punishment of death is rarely inflicted. 

I was rather disappointed upon seeing the House of 
Nobles ; it contains the hall and room which are reserv- 
ed for that branch of the Diet, and which, as it is now 
convened at the will of the sovereign, may be considered 
as a mere phantom of power. If the authority of the 
states were any thing better than nominal, the country 
gentlemen would have some cause to complain, as they 
are wholly excluded from any legislative participation, 
this shadowy representation being confnied, and it was 
even so when the Diet was in its plenitude of power, and 
held the Sovereign dependant, to the nobles, clergy, citi- 
zens, and peasants. Th.e exterior of the building is sim- 
ple but handsome. In the square before the House of 



V12 NORTHERN SUMMEIl. [Cbap. 8v 

Kobles is the pedestrian statue of Gustavus Vasa, hj 
Meyer, erected by the nobles at a great expense, but in 
my humble opinion unworthy of the immortal man whose 
memory it is intented to perpetuate. 

A delightful morning attracted me to Haga, which is 
at the short distance of a mile and a half English from 
the north gate of the city. As this little palace and gar- 
dens were built and disposed after the design of the grace-, 
ful Gustavus III. with the assistance of Masrelier, and 
were the favorite retreat of the former, my gratification 
was certain. The approach to the villa is through a^. 
winding v/alk of luxuriant shrubs, the most flourishing and, 
beautiful of any that I saw in the north : at a small distance: 
there is a line of picturesque rocks, crowned with firs ;: 
and at the bottom of a rich meadow, by the side of the 
Mseier, presenting anoble sheet of water, surrounded -with 
forests of fir, stands the chateau, built of wood, and 
painted to resemble stone, containing a small front of 
three stories and two long gallery wings. The grounds, 
and ornamental buildings reminded me of the J^eiit Tri- 
anon of the unfortunate Queen of France at Versailles. 
The rooms are small, but elegantly fitted up. Gustavus. 
spent much of his time here ; it is said that this spot was 
particularly endeared to him, on account of his having 
secretly consulted with his friends, in the recesses of the 
rocks Vv^iich constitute one of the great beauties of the 
scenery, upon the revolution of 1772. This cirumstance 
induced him, when he travelled, to assume the title of count 
Haga. Adjoining, upon an eminence, is the foundation of 
a vast palace, w^hich Gustavus HI. commenced in the 
year 179 1, but which has neve radvanced since his death. 
The undertaking was too vast and expensive for the 
country, and is very judiciously laid aside by the reigning 
sovereign. . - 

In the library I was gratified by seing several draw- 
ings and architectural designs of its accomplished foun- 
der, which displayed much taste and genius. The friend- 
ship and confidence with which this prince honored the 
heroic Sir Sidney Smith is well knov/n ; the King first 
conceived an attachment for him from the resemblance 
which he thought, and which he frequently was heard 



Ckap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 113 

to observe, existed between the face of the hero of Acre 
and Charles XII. 

As Sir Sidney is one of my favorite heroes, I will run 
the hazard of being blamed for deviating from my nar- 
rative a little, and for detaining the reader^ an extra mo- 
ment to relate a singular prepossession he felt, when a 
youth, of his fame, and the theatre of his future glory, 
which has just occurred to my memory. Being sent, 
some years since, on shore upon the Irish coast with a 
brother officer, who is now holding a deservedly high sit- 
uation in the service, to look for some deserters from 
their ship, after a long, fatiguing, and fruitless pursuit, 
they halted at a little inn to refresh themselves ; having 
dined. Sir Sidney on a sudden became silent, and seemed 
lost in meditation : " My dirk for your thoughts," ex- 
claimed his friend, gently tapping him on the shoulder ; 
" Avhat project, Sidney, has got possession of you now ?" 
^' My good fellovf,*' replied the young warrior, his ex- 
pressive] countenance brightening as he spoke, " you 
" will no doubt suppose me a little disordered In my 
" mind, but I have been thinking that, before twelve 
'* years shall have roiled over my head, I shall make the 
" British arms triumphant in Holy I^and." We need 
Hot knock at the cabinet door of St. Cloud to know how 
speedily this prediction was verified. 

In the afternoon, after our return from Ilaga, we 
went on the Baltic to the park, situate on the east side 
-of the city, three English miles distant, to see a re- 
view and sham fight of about four thousand troops, en- 
camped there. The park is a place of great resort in 
fine weather, like our Hyde-park. Our v/ater excursion 
was delightfuL The manoeuvres commenced at five 
o'clock in the evening, upon the arrival of the Prince 
Royul, a little sickly child about six years old, who oii 
this occasion represented his father. He passed the line 
in an open carriage drawn by six horses, attended by 
some military officers and two pages of his household, 
followed by an escort of body guards. After the pages, 
who wore a Spanish costume, consisting of a jacke^t of 
stone-colored cloth, with slashed sleeves and a short robe, 
had seated their little charge upon a rock, jutting out of 

K 2 - o 



114 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^. 

a rising ground, the regiments were put in motion, and 
displayed a strong, martial, and well disciplined body of 
men. When the bloodless battle was concluded, the re- 
giments passed in open order before the Prince, who with 
great docility held his little hat in his hand during the 
ceremony, then remounted his carriage and returned to 
his nursery. The costume of the two pages was the 
only relic, I met with, of the fantastic change which 
Gustavus III. produced in the dress of his subjects ; the 
difficulty and danger of which, it is said, was artfully 
suggested by Catherine II. when he visited her at Pc- 
tersburgh, in order to induce his pride and spirit more 
ardently to attempt the change by which sh^ secretly 
hoped that he would disgust the Swedes, and thereby 
induce them to attempt the restoration of the fallen pri- 
rileges of the states, overturned by the celebrated revo- 
lution which he effected by his fortitude, consummate 
address, and eloquence. It was one of the distinguish- 
ing marks of the policy of the modern Semiramis of the 
north, to embroil her royal neighbors in perpetual confiict 
v/ith each other, or with their own subjects. The Swedes 
v/ere too loyal, too good tempered, and too wise to quarrel 
with their Prince, and such a Prince as Gustavus IIL 
about the cut of a coat ; but they reluctantly adopted a 
fashion which had no similitude in the north, and assim- 
ilated them in appearance with a people who bear no 
analogy to them but in national honor, the subjects of 
his Castilian Majesty. Before v^'e left the Gamp, v/e pre- 
sented a fine liltie peasant boy, who was playing near us, 
v,'ith some fruit : his mother sent him to thank us, which 
he did by kissing our hands : a token of gratitude all 
over the north. 

The military force of Sweden is divided into regular 
or garrison regiments, and n-ational militia : only the lat- 
ter will require some explanation. The levies for this 
establishment are made from the lands belonging to the 
crown, the holders of which contribute not only to the 
support of the troops, but of the clergy and civil officers. 
The estates are called Hemmans, and divided into rottes ; 
.each rotte is charged in a settled proportion ; the most 
Valuable with the support of cavalry? the others with that 



Chap. 8.] NORTHERN .SUMMER. 115 

of infentiy . The nien, tiius selected from the very heart 
of the peasantry, are ah->iost always healthy, stout, and 
well proportioned. In war and in peace, tlie crown land- 
holders are compeliable gratuitously to transport these 
levies and their baggage to their respective regiments, 
and to allot a cottage and barn, a small portion of ground, 
and to cultivate it during the absence of the soldier upon 
the service of government, for the support of his fami- 
ly, and also to supply him with a coarse suit of clothes, 
tv/o pair of shoes, arad a small yearly stipend. In peace, 
where the districts adjoin, the soldiers assemble by com- 
panit^s every Sunday after divine worship, to be exer- 
cised by their dfficers and Serjeants. Before and after, 
harvest, the regiment is drawn out and encamped in its 
district for three weeks. In every third or fourth year^ 
encampments of several regiments together are formed 
in some province which is generally the centre of many 
districts ; and, during the rest of their time, these- niar^ 
tial husbandmen^ who are enrolled for life, are permitted 
to work as laborers for the landholder, at the usual price 
of labor. Such is a brief abstract of the manner in which 
this great constitutional force, " this cheap defence of 
nations," is organised. 

Upon our return from the review, we were much gra- 
tified with seeing the gun boats from the Admiralty Isle 
m^ancsuvre. These vessels are used upon the lake 
M^elar, amongst the rocks, and on the coast of Finland ; 
but are incapable of weathering high seas or strong 
winds : some of them are of forty -four oars, and carry 
twenty -foar pounders in their bow. 

Although it was the twenty-eighth of June, it was so 
chilly, that I began to give credit to a remark that the 
north has two winters a ivhite and a green G?ie. We now 
prepared to make a little excursion to Upsala, and the 
mines of Danmora, distant about eighty-five English 
miles : for this expedition we hired a little light phaeton 
for one plote and sixteen skillings per day : this vehicle 
required only two horses, and was well' adapted to the 
cross roads. The prevailing carriage, used by the re- 
spectable part of the inhabitants, is a gig, with a small 
seat behind for a servant, who at a distance appears ta 



116 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. 

be holding by the queue of his master, and has altogeth- 
er a very whimsical effect. 

The traveller, whose time is not limited, would do 
well to visit the foundaries of Sahlahutta, the silver 
mines of Sahlberg and of Herstenbotten ; Afvestad, 
where the copper is refined ; Norberg, remarkable for 
its very curious mineral productions ; Fahlun, the capi- 
tal of the heroic Delecariians, the famous silver mines of 
Kopparberg, the cataracts of Elfscarleby, Mr. Grill's 
anchor-forge at Suderfors ; at all which places, as well 
as at Danmoi^, the natural treasure and phenomena of 
Sweden are displayed in the most interesting and sublime 
manner. To secure admission to most of these places^ 
it will be adviseable to procure letters of introduction to 
the proprietors or inspectors. Pressed, as I have before 
stated myself to have been for time, my election fell up- 
on the mines of Danmora, and a visit to Upsala. 

The country through which we passed, with our ac- 
customed celerity, v/as rather rich and picturesque, and 
in many parts abounded with corn fields ; but as we ap- 
proached Upsala, and afterwards Danmora, the scenery 
became bleak and dreary. The first evening we slept 
at Upsala, and very early the next morning proceeded 
to Danmora, where we arrived in time to hear the blow- 
ing of the rock, which commences every day at twelve 
o'clock precisely. As we Vv^ere looking down the princi- 
pal mouth of the mine, which presented a vast and 
frightful gulf, closing in impenetrable darkness, our ears 
weie assailed by the deep-toned thunder of the explo- 
sion below, which rolled through the vast and gloomy 
caverns of this profound abyss in sounds the most awful 
Mkd sublime : frequently large masses of rock are 
thrown out by the violence of the discharge. In these 
mighty excavations, the hand of man has tciled for three 
centuries. These mines produce a vast quantity of 
ore of a superior quality, much used in the British steel- 
nianufactcries. Feeling an invincible disinclination to 
descend the principal pit in a bucket, v/e reached the 
bottom, of another abyss, about four hundred feet deep, 
by crazy ladders placed almost perpendicularly, a mode 
which was attended with mu-ch trouble and consider able 



€hap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. lir 

peril : we found the bottom covered with indiss©hibl@ 
ice. Our curiosity was speedily satisfied, and we gladly 
regained the summit.. Mark the force of habit ! Two 
elderly miners stepped from the firm earth upon the 
rim of a bucket, which hung over this dizzy depth, apd, 
holding the cord, descended ; one singing and the other 
taking snuff. The hydraulic machinery by which the 
mines, are kept dry, move a chain of six thousand feet, 
which, after drawing the water from the mine, forces it 
through an aqueduct of five thousand feet : this mine 
is called the Peru of Sweden. From the mines we pro* 
ceeded to Mr. Tanner's forges at Osterby, about one 
English mile off, where one thousand persons are em-^t- 
ployed : 

Bath*d in the laborious drop 



Of painful industry 

The ore, as it comes from the mine, is piled upon layers 
of fir, and partially melted : it is then pounded by vast 
hammers moved by water, afterwards liquefied in a fur- 
nace of charcoal, whence it runs into a long mould of 
sand, where, as soon as it hardens, it is drawn out and 
laid in piles in the open air. These enormous rough 
pieces are again melted, and beaten into bars for expor- 
tation- 
See, pale and hollow-e^fed, in his blue shirt,. 
Before the scorching furnace, reeking stands 
The weary smith ! a thundering water-wheel 
Alternately uplifts his cumbrous pair 
Of roaring bellows 

The town of Osterby is small, but neat, and princi- 
pally inhabited by persons who have concerns with the 
mines. At the inn, which is very pretty and romantic, 
we faired sumptuously upon strumlins and a cock of the 
woods, that had been preserved in butter ; and, after a 
hearty repast, returned to Upsala. This town, which is 
an archiepiscopal see, and one of the most ancient Chris- 
tian establishments in Sweden, stands in a vast plain, in 
which the general character of barrenness is occasion- 
;illy relieved by some few corn-fields and partial spats of 



tl6 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 8. 

meadow. Some of the private dwellings and the colle-- 
ges are handsome, and are generally stuccoed and stain- 
ed of a yellow color ; but the majority of houses are 
composed of wood, painted red, and have behind them 
little gardens filled with apple and other fruit trees. The 
liver Sala, which comnnunicates with the Mseler, divides 
the town. I never saw the grass so high and so green 
upon the roofs of the houses as here. 

Upon looking from my bed-roonm window at the inn, 
I could not distinguish several of them from the green 
hill on whose summit the ancient palace stands. Upon 
entering the court gate of this edifice, which is of brick, 
and has at one angle a large round tower, with a copper 
cupola, a number of baggage carriages were preparing 
to follow the Duke of Sudermania (the King's uncle, 
and, during his minority, the Regent of Sweden,) who 
had left the apartments which he has here, the day before, 
to join his regiment. 

This Prince possesses considerable talents: unfortunate- 
ly there is at present a coolness between his Royal High- 
ness and his august nephew. Part of the palace only re- 
mains, the rest having been consumed by fire. From 
the height upon which it stands the scite of the ancient 
town of Upsala, formerly the capital of Sweden, and the 
residence of the high priest of Oden, are discernible. 
Our time v/ould not admit of our seeing the celebrated 
Morasteen, or stone of Mora, on which the ancient so- 
vereigns of Sv/eden were crowned ; the last in 1512 : 
it is preserved, vvith other curious stones, in a shed about 
seven n:iiles from Upsaia. Under a heap of rubbish, 
which formerly composed a part of the palace, we were 
informed are the remains of some state dungeons, in one 
of which the following affecting scene occuiTed ; 

%n the year 1 567, Eric IV. the most bloody tyrant 
ever seated upon the throne of Sv/eden, seized upon the 
illustrious family of the Stures, who were the objects of 
his iealoasy, and, in a moment of anger, descended the 
dungeon in which Count Sture was confined, and stab- 
bed him in the ami : the young captive fell upon his 
knees, implored his clemency, and drawing the dagger 
from the wound, kissed it, and presented it to his en- 



Chap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1 1$ 

raged and remorseless sovereign, who caused him to be 
immediately dispatched. It would form a fine subject 
for the pencil. 

The cathedral is a prodigious unwieldy pile of brick, 
with two square towers at the west end, in the gothic 
style which have been recently decorated with a doric 
architrave, and surmounted by two cupolas of copper, 
supported by doric pillars of iron. In contemplating 
such a heterogeneous mixture of architecture, in a spot 
dedicated to the sciences, I could scarcely give credit to 
the evidence of my eyes ; but the worst wine is ahvays 
drank in the vineyard. The present cathedral is erected 
upon the scite of the ancient one, which v/as burnt down 
about one hundred and fifty years since. The interior 
is handsome, and is adorned with a magnificent organ, 
w^hich was played when we entered, and poured forth 
some of the most powerful tones I ever heard. As I 
was looking upon the ground, I found that I was stand- 
ing upon the slab that covered the ashes of the iminortal 
LinnsEus, and his son, as appeared by the fbilowmg sinirt 
pie and very inadequate inscription : / 

Ossa 
Caroli a Linne 
equitis aurati 
marito optimo 
filio unico 
Garolo a Linke 
patris successori 
et 

siby 
Sara Elizabeta Wotljea. 

The affectionate reverence of the pupils of this distin- 
guished expounder of nature, and the powers of his cele- 
brated friend, Sergell, have endeavored to supply the 
humility of the preceding tribute, by raising, in a little 
recess, a monument of Swedish porphyry, supporting a 
large m.edaiiion of the head of the illustrious naturalist, 
which is siiid to be an admirable likeness of him ; under 
it is the following plain inscription : 



t2(5 KORTHERN SUMMER. [CHA*.m. 

Carolo a Linne 

Botannicoriim 
priiicipi 
Amici et discipuli^ 
1798. 

Although this monument is more worthy of him, yet it 
Is far below what a traveller would have expected to find 
in the northern seat of learning, and in the place which 
gave Linnseus birth. . His spirit still seems to pervade 
and consecrate this celebrated spot. The traveller hears 
every remark enriched with the name of Linnjeus. 
" There," said a Swede, with a smile of national 
pride and an eye of delight, " is the house in which he 
*' lived, and there the garden and bower in which he 
*' studied ; over these fields he used to fly, when the sun 
<' refreshed them with his earliest beam, attended by a 
"<' numerous body of affectionate students, to explore the 
<' beauties, and unfold, with the eye of a subordinate Prov- 
'<' idence, the secrets of nature ; there, if in their ram- 
" bles any one discovered a curious plant or insect, the 
" sound of a French-horn collected the herborizing par- 
" ty, who assembled round their chief, to listen to the 
" wisdom that fell from his tongue." 

In a private chapel in this chathedral is the tomb of 
the glorious Gustavus Vasa, whose efiigy is placed be- 
tween that of his two wives, Catharine and Margaret ; 
and in another, that of the Stures, v/hom I have before 
mentioned ; the latin inscription upon this monument 
thus affectingly concludes : " All that \vas noble and 
" magnanimous could not soften the irort heart of their 
" sovereign 1 Reader, if thou art not as unfeeling, la- 
" ment the undeserved fate of such virtue." In one of 
the recesses we saw a small recumbent statue of John 
III. which experienced a similar fate ; the ship that was 
conveying it to Sweden from Italy, where it was made, 
sunk near Dantzig, and the statue remained under 
water for one hundred and fifty yeai^, when it was fished 
up, and presented by the burghers of Dantzig to Eric, 
and was deposited in the old cathedral. Here repose 
giiso the remains of the celebrated chancellor Oxen- 



Cbap.8.] northern summer. J54 

'stiern. It is surprising that neither this great man, nor 
Christian IV. of Denmark, the two great ornaments 
^nd benefactors of their countries, have any mpnumentji 
j:aised to their memories. 

The reader may be plea^^.d with the following account 
t)f the Chancellor from the pen of the eccentric Christi- 
aia, queen of Sweden, who was pl^iced, during her minor- 
ity, under the guardianship of -Oxenstiern. " This ex^ 
^* traordinary man hacl amassed a great deal of learning, 
" having been a hard student in his youth : he read even 
•♦* in the midst of his important accupations. He had a 
" great knowledge of the affairs, and of the interests of 
"mankind: he knew the forte and the foible of all th_e 
■*' states of Europe : he was master of great talents, acoa- 
_** sumraate prudence, a vast capacity, and a noble soul : 
^ he was indefatigable : he possessed a most incredible 
;^ assiduity and application to business ; he raade it liis 
^j pleasure and his only occupation : he was> las sober as 
"^Vany person could be, in a country and in an age when 
" that virtue was unknown. He was a sound sleeper, and 
■*' used to say, that nothing had either prevented his sleep- 
^' ing, or av/akened him out of his sleep, during the whole 
^' course of his life, except the death of my father Gus- 
■** tavus, and the loss of the battle of Nordingue. He has 
*' often told me that, when he \yent to bed, he put off his 
j<' cares with his clothes, and let them both go to rest till 
^' the next morning. In other respects, he was ambi- 
^' tious but honest, incorruptible, and a little too slow and 
*' phlegmatic." 

As we proceeded to the College of Botany and its gar- 
dens, it was singular to see the professors o^ philosophy 
^qoted. Every thing in Sv/eden is performed in boots : 
as soon as a child can walk he is booted ; perhaps the 
cheapness of leather may be the cause of this. The col- 
lege was erected \mder the auspices of the late king, with 
his accustqmed taste and magnificence. Monsieur Aft- 
zelius, professor of chemistry, and who presides over the 
cabinet of mineralogies, attended us with great politeness. 
This gentleman has lately returned to Sweden from a 
•very interesting, and perilous investigation of the naturaJ 

L 



122 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. «. 

history of the interior of Africa, and has enriched the 
department over which he ably presides, with several 
tare and precious objects, which he brought from that 
country. His mineral collection is much esteemed, but 
I confess my inability to describe it. 

Amongst other matters, the conversation turned upon 
the authenticity of many of Mungo Parke's marvellous 
stories, upon which the Professor assured us, that he be- 
lieved his relation to be perfectly true, and declared, that 
in that distant and unfrequented region he had himself, 
met with many extraordinary objects and occurrences, 
which it required great courage to relate. I have, since 
iny return to England, seen some beautiful drawings 
imade upon the spot, descriptive of the manners, and 
particularly of the rural economy of the interior Afri- 
cans, by a highly ingenious and enterprising artist, Sa- 
muel Daniell, Esq. which fully confirm the observation 
of the learned Professor, and might, from their concur- 
ling and convincing testimony, abate the force of his ap- 
prehensions. Upon the subject of abolishing the slave- 
trade, the Professor made a remark, which, fiowing from 
local knowledge and long intercourse, strongly impres- 
sed my mind : he deprecated any other than a gradual 
abolition, for which the minds of the negroes should be 
prepared ; and declared, in a very emphatic manner his 
perfect conviction that a violent emancipation would only 
shock and endanger this great cause of humanity. 

Although unacquainted with botany, I was much 
gratified by seeing one of the rooms, in which there 
were some beautiful and flourishing date and plane trees, 
bedded in fine mould, and several rare plants from the 
South Sea islands, growing against a green treillage 
that ran on all sides of the apartment, which was form- 
ed into walks, and had a very agreeable effect. 

Amongst the curiosities in tliis room, I did not fail to 
pay my respects to a venerable parrot, which we were as- 
sured had exceeded his hundredth year : he displayed 
the marks of great antiquity, part of his plumage was 
entirely gone, and there was a very visible appearance of 
feebleness both in his eyes and in his beak ; but he is 
'6tiy lilvely to see sevei-al years more roll over his tufted 



Chai-. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 12S 

head. The warmth of the room affords the tempera- 
ture of native climate to the plants ; it was gratifying 
to see art thus supporting nature in a bleak and hostile 
climate. 

The hot -house, which is just finished, is a magnificent 
hall, supported by doric pillars, and which, when finish- 
ed, will be warmed by fourteen stoves and nine flues, 
concealed in the columns. There were no plants here 
at this time. The room for the museum is also not yet 
completed, the design is excellent. The lecture -room is 
very capacious and handsome, and opens into that part 
of the garden which is finished and ready for the stu- 
dents, under a portico of pestum columns. The plants 
in this garden are arranged agreeable to the plan and 
classification of Linnaus, and afford no doubt a rich men- 
tal banquet for the erudite herbalist. The library of the 
university is not now thought deserving of the high re- 
putation which was once affixed to it : it is divided into 
three apartments, the first is dedicated to belleslet- 
ters, history, and natural history ; the second is mis- 
cellaneous, and was presented to the university by the 
late King ; and the third is confined to theology, juris- 
prudence, and medicine. This library has been aug- 
mented at various times by the literary collections of 
those countries which have bowed to the Swedish sword. 
The librarian, who had li\^ed some years with Sir Joseph 
Banks in that capacity, shewed us a very precious man- 
uscript of a Gothic translation of the four gospels, sup- 
posed to have been made in the fourth century, upon 
vellum, richly illuminated with large silver and some 
golden letters, which have been made by the brush : the 
former are faded, but the latter are in excellent preser- 
vation. This book formed a part of the literary pillage 
of Prague, in 1648. and was sent to Christina by Count 
Konigsmark ; from that princess it was pilfered by a 
Dutchman, upon whose death it was purchased for 250/. 
by som.e good patriotic Swede, and presented to the 
university.. 

We were shewn some curiosities, Mdiich, in justice to 
the university of Upsala, I must acknowledge that even 
llicse who displayed them were ashamed of, and were 



I®4 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. K 

better calculated to augment the cabinet of some little, 
da;pricious, spoiled, princess, who was just capable of 
running alone, than that of a grave and learned body,;; 
viz. the slippers of the Virgin Mary, Judas's purse, Sec. 

In a small room in the library we saw a lai^ge chesty^ 
^out the size of a bureau bedstead, double locked and 
Scaled, containing the manuscripts of the late King, 
vrhich he directed should not be opened till fifty years 
after his decease. Conjecture and expectation frequent*, 
ly hover over this case, which will, no doubt, one da.^' 
wiifold to Sweden much interesting memoii', and literarjr 
treasure. Here we were shewn some Icelandic manu- 
scripts, said to be upwards of eight hundred years old, 
arid several Lapland tracts. How wonderful, that litera- 
ture should have lived, and even siiiiledi itt' ri^gioii^^ 
#hich the sun rarely warms ! 

In cne of the mineralogical collections, separate front 
that of M. Aftzeliils, we were much gratified by seeing* 
some transparent agates containing flies, elastic sand- 
stones, incorhbustible purses of asbestos, a mineral found , 
iri the iron mines of Danemora, some beautiful chrystal^ 
and many other rarities, which were displayed and ex- 
pidned with the greatest perspicuity and urbanity. The 
students amount to about one thousand, lodge, and board' 
themselves according to their finances, and inclinations, 
in the tov,*n : in general they wear a black gown without 
sleeves. 

By an unaccountable mistake we omitted to bring with 
us Sotne letters of introduction to the university, v/hich 
were offered to us at Stockholm, but upon a professor^ 
who happened to be in the cathredral at the same times'^' 
with ourselves, observing that v/e were Englishmen, he,, 
in the politest manner, enabled us to see what was" most 
worthy of our attention. Our omission, and Professor 
Aftzelius's imperfect knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, produced a momentary embarrassment : " How 
*' dare you,'* said he, making a low baw, " come here 
" \\dthout letters of introduction ?'* What he meant ^ 
is obvious, from the politeness with which he received ^^ 
\is. The Professor will not be angry, I am sure, and the 
following whimsical error will completely keep hira in 



CiiAP. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. i^^ 

cbnntenaiice ; it was related by the btaVe and venfe'rable 
Prince de Leigne, Wllorti I had the pleasure of irieetiiig 
at Mf . Jackson's, our ambassador at Berlin, of ah Eng- ' 
lishman who had been introduced to him, and who was 
vehemently anxious to make himself master of the 
French language. It was the custom with this gentle- 
man, for the purpose of restraining as mu:ch as possible 
the blunders v/hich he was perpetually committing, 
always in conversation to speak each sentence in Eng- 
lish first, and then to translate it into French. One day 
he called upon the Prince who is a very active mian, al- 
though fai* advanced in years, and finding him on his",.. 
couchj and wishing to rally him on the occasion, thus - 
began : " My Prince, Man Prince — ^I am glad to see 
" yow^je suis charn.e de vous voir — On your couch, dans 
^'- voire accouchment — .that is, instead of ^ on your So- 
" pha,' ' in your lying in." 

The revenues of this university, the first in the north 
of Europe, are rather narrow ; fortunate would it be for 
this learned institution if it v/ere more the fashion to 
coiiirriit the sons of gentlemen and noblemen to its care ; 
nothing but such patronage is wanting to expand its 
energies, genius and learning having made this spot their 
favorite residence. The attentions that we received 
there, and which our own forgetfulness rendered acciden- 
tal^ have left a lasting impression upon my mind of the 
respect which is p&id to Englishmen. 

It is by quitting it that we are able best to appreciate 
the value of our country ; every Englishman who leaves 
it from honorable motives, becomes a subordinate repre- 
sentative of it, and ought to revolt at tarnishing a name 
which is every where honored. 

The population of Sweden, including Finland, is rapid-f 
ly encreasing ; it is at present ascertained to exceed 
three millions. The revenues of Sweden arise from the. 
poll-tax, about one shilling and three pence each person, 
with certain exceptions ; royal demesnes, windows, 
horses, equipages, supernumerary servants, watches, 
tobacco, snuff, duties on exports and imports and distilled 
spirits, on mines and forges, part of the great tythes^ 

L 2 



12^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chai^. f . 

deductions from salaries, pensions and places, and mo- 
nopoly of salt-petre. The herring fishery is said to be 
much on the decline. We found every thing, except 
cloth, very cheap in Sweden. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Poor post-horses — Language — Merry criminc?.— 'Prison' 
ers—-.Psalmsingi7ig watchmen — Wash erwo7ne?i — .French 
comedy — P assfiorts~~-Indcconini of a little dog — Set sail 
for Swedi'jh Finland'— 'Begging on a ne~v element — Isl"^ 
ands upon islands — 'A massacre — The arte— ^ Abo-— <Flies 
>— Forests on fire— 'Russia— ^F'red^rickshani— Russian 
coins. 

THE Swedish peasantry are certainly not so merciful 
to their horses as their neisrhbors the Danes : but 
provident and generous Nature, who foreseeing the cru- 
elty of man tov/ards the poor ass, armed his sides with 
the toughest hide, made Lis temper patient, and taught 
him to feed contentedly upon the thistle, seems to have 
fortified the Swedish post-horse against hardships and 
neglect. I have frequently seen this poor animal, after he. 
has brought us to the end of a long station, left to stand" 
in the road, refreshed only now and then by some little 
bits of hard bread, broken from a circle which the driver 
generally wears slung over his shoulders. During this 
excursion, as v/ell as on our first progress through the 
country, my ear was frequently deli-^hted by the strong. 
i*esemblance between, and even identity of the Swedish 
and English languages, as in the following words : god 
dag, good day ; farvel, farewell ; efter, after ; go, go j 
vel, well ; hott, hat ; long, long ; eta, eat ; fisk, fish ;. 
peppar, pepper ; salt, salt ; vinn, wine ; liten, little j, 
tvo, two J go out, go out ; streum, river ; rod, red^ 
Sec. &;c. 



Chap. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ISJ. 

The Swedish language, which is derived from the 
Gothic, has two different pronunciations ; one in which 
every letter in a word is heard jusl as it is written, such 
as it is used in the various branches of oratory ; the oth- 
er, established by custom for common use, has many 
abbreviations, and, in many instances, I was informed 
by an intelligent Swede, deviates from the rules of gram- 
mar. The language is very sonorous : it places, as does 
the Danish, the article at the end of the nouns, as in the 
most ancient languages, contrary to the English and Ger- 
man, as the man^ der man ; Swedish, mannen. 

Some of the national son g^ are said to be very sweety 
and to breathe the true spirit of poetry. Amongst their 
modern poets, they speak with great rapture of Dah'n ; 
and amongst their ancient of Stiernhielm, who flourished 
in the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, and, wonderful ta 
relate, was the greatest mathematician and fioet of his 
ag.e. Perhaps it was the life of that singular man that 
suggested that whimsical satyrical poem, " the Loves of 
the Triangles.'* 

The highest orders of the Swedes are highly culti- 
vated, well informed, and accomplishe'd. In conse- 
quence of every parish having a public school, almost 
every peasant can read, and many of the sons of the peas- 
ants are sent from these schools to the colleges at Upsala.. 

As I was strolling through the streets of Stockholm,^ 
just after our return from Upsala, I met with an occur- 
rence which clearly established that an annate senti- 
ment of submission to the laws will better ensure the 
safe cvistody of their violator than guards and gaolers ; 
and it is admitted, that the Sv/edes are more under the 
influence of such an impulse than any other people. 
Turning a corner, I was overtaken by a rav/ flaxen-head- 
ed countryman, wJio, as it afterwards proved, had never 
been in the city before, driving, in a little country cart, 
a very robust merry looking fellow, whose hands were 
fastened by a large clumsy pair of handcuffs, and one '^^ 
leg chained to some little slips of wood which composed 
part of the body of the vehicle. Both driver and culprit 
had, it appeared, indulged themselves with a few snaps 
on the road, and were neither of them very sober nor 



iM^ NORTHERN SUMIVCEII. [Chap.#. 

soiTowfuI. The prisoner, Who, frorri his siipenor size 
and strength, might, larri satisfied, have easily knocked' 
down the rustic with the iron round his hands, if he had"'*' 
been so disposed, and effected his escape with little ornd'*'* 
difficulty, sat at his ease, amusing himself with now and" 
then pinching his conductor. Which was always follbwed 
by a joke, and a mutual hearty laugh. In this wtiy^ they 
jogged on through the city, the thief shewing his driver 
the road to the gaol, as merrily as if he had been going 
to the house of festivity. I saw several prisoners passed 
from one town to another, under similar circumstances 
of apparent insecurity. They all appeared to be too un- 
concerned, if not cheerful, to be secured by the tram- 
mels of conscience, which is said to be sometimes ca- 
pable of holding a ruffian by a hair. 

Upon visiting the principal prison, the rooms appear- 
ed to me to be too small and close, were much too 
crowded with prisoners, and the healthy and the sick 
were confined together. The prisoners Avere not com- 
pelled to work as in Copenhagen, to which circumstance, 
and the preceding causes, their salloAV looks may 
be attributable : they are permitted to take the air only;' 
for a short time in the court-yard twice in the day. F ' 
Was shocked to see a bar of iron, as long and as thick as 
a great kitchen poker, rivetted to each man's leg, and 
which, to enable him to move, he was obliged to preserve 
in a horizontal position, by a cord fastened to the end of 
it, and suspended from his waist. To load a prisoner 
with irons of any other weight or shape than what are ne- 
cessary for security, is a reflection upon the justice, hu- 
manity, and policy of the government that permits it. 
The women were confined in a separate division of the 
building : they were not ironed, but their cells were too 
close and crowded ; and they were also permitted to 
live in indolence. I mtist confess, when I reflected upon 
the enlightened benevolence of the Swedish nation, I was 
surprised to see how little this place appeared to have 
shared in its solicitude, and mo^>t cordisilly do I hope that 
the time is not distant, when these miserable wretches 
will be rendered more comfortable, and less burthensoine 
to the state. 



<^MAP. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1^4 

The wklchmen of Stockholm, like their brethren of 
Copenhagen, cry the hour most lustily, and sing anthenilS" 
almost all night, to the no little annoyance of foreigneri^ 
who have been accustomed to confine their devotions to' 
the day. These important personages of the night pe- 
rambulate the town with a- curious weapon like a pitch^ 
fork, each side of the fork having a spring barb, used in 
securing a running thief by the leg. The use of it re- 
quires some skill and practice, and constitutes no incon- 
siderable part of the valuable art and mystery of thief-- 
catching. 

Before I quit this charming city, I cannot h^lp paying 
a compliment to a deserving and meritorious part of its 
female inhabitants, I mean the washerwomen, v^hich I" 
am sui^ alHovers of clean linen will re-echo.. It is re- 
freshing to see them enter one's room with the greatest' 
pro/irete, with their baskets filled w'ith linen as white as 
the driven snovi^s of Lapland, and lay it out upon the ta- 
ble with that look and movement of conscious, but de-- 
cent pride, which every creature feels who has reason t© 
be in good humor with her own works : their bills are 
surprisingly moderate. Perhaps Mdien the meiits of 
these ladies are more widely known, luxury delighting 
in whatever is foreign, may seek their aid, and the winds 
of heaven may waft into Swedish harbors vessels freight-^ 
ed with Jbul linen from English shores. 

We found the French comedy tolerably well attend- 
ed ; the interior of the thea.tre is small, and of an ob- 
long shape, meanly decorated, and badly lighted : the 
royal-box is in the centre of the front, the wiiole of 
which it occupies. The performers were respectable, 
and receive very liberal encouragement from the public : 
the scenery was tolerable. The embellishments of this 
theatre suffer from the prodigal bounty v/hioh has been 
lavished upon the opera. 

As the time fixed for our departure was rapidly ad- 
vancing, to enable us to pass through Russia, we were 
obliged to furnish ourselves with a passport from the 
Governor of Stockholm, for which we paid eight rix- 
doUars and a half, and another passport from the Russian 
liunister, resident at thie Swedish court; which cost tw<i 



130 NORTHERN SUMMER. [CiiAP.f 

rix-doilars ; and as it is attended with the least trouble 
and expense to cross the gulf of Bothnia to Abo, bjr 
proceeding from Stockholm up the Baltic, v/e hired half 
a packet, the other half being engaged, for fifteen rix- 
dollars. The distance from Stockholm to Abo is about 
three hundred and fifteen English miles. The vessels, 
which are hired upon these occasions, are single masted, 
^nd resemble a shallop with a raised deck, and a pink 6r 
sharp stern, which is much lower than the fore part, and 
is frequently under water : they cannot live long in 
rough weather. 

On the day of our departure we dined with one of the 
most amiable and hospitable men in Stockholm. Few 
respectable Englishm.en can pass through this capital, 
without knowing and consequently esteeming him ; I 
allude to M. Winnerquist the banker. From his house 
I once more ran up to the church of St. Catherine, at 
the top of Mount Moses, to take my last farewell of this 
enchanting city, which, warmed by a biilliant sun-tint, 
lay beautifully expanded below me. 

Having laid in our provisions,-— and let me recommend 
the traveller to secure a good quantity of bread, for none 
can be procured till he reaches Abo,— we proceeded to 
the quay, where our vessel lay in front of the palace : 
here, v/hilst I was waiting on shore the operation of 
hoisting the mainsail, a little trait of national character 
occurred, which did not fail to set me oiT in good humor. 
The v/ai!s of the casem.ent story of the royal castle, and 
of the garden on this side, are of granite, vast, enormous- 
ly thick and long, and cannot be taken by sap. A trades- 
man passed v/ith a little dog trudging after him : the ani^ 
rnal, it is to be presumed, had not had experience enough 
to know thati in the north, the very stones which form 
the royal pile are held even penally sacred against defile- 
ment of every sort, for, irresistibly impelled, he raised 
one of his hinder feet against this said royal wall ; a sen- 
tinel, who had a little whip in his hand, I suppose for this 
special purpose, sent this fourfooted disloyal violator of 
decorum howling, with many a backward look of re- 
proach, after his master, v/hom he vehemently scolded, 
for not having taken care to prevent such disrespectful 
behavior towards the seat of majesty. 



€hap. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 131 

At five o'clock in the evening of the sixth of July, 
tdth very little wind, we slowly withdrew from Stock- 
holm. Before night we were completely becalmed ; our 
captuin rowed us up to a rock, and throwing out a gang 
bpard, tied the vessel to a fir-tree for the night. Here 
\ve landed, and ascended the rocks, which, sparingly 
clothed with grey morse, rose from the water's edge 
in the most grand, romantic, and picturesque disorder. 
Before us the rich crimson suffusion of the sun, just 
sunk behind a dark undulating line of fir forests, gave at 
once tranquillity and tone to the lake-appearance of this 
^rm of the Baltic, which was enlivened by the white- 
lagging sails of a few boats, that on the opposite side 
softly etnd slowly creeped through the deep shadows of 
the shores, crowned v/ith the woods of Liston-cottage ; 
whilst in the south, the tower of St. Catherine's, mount- 
ed upon her airy summit, the houses, the palace, and 
the spires seemed composed of light cloud and mist. 
The silence of this delicious repose of nature v/as only 
faintly broken by the dashing of the oar, and the carol 
of the distant boatmen ; in the language of the divine 
Miton : 

" Now come still evening on, and twilight gray 
Had in her sober livery all things clad : 
Silence accompanied ; for beasc and bird. 
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests. 

Were slunk 

now glovved the firmament 



With living sap hirs." 



Seated upon a rock, we for a long time contemplated this 
^exquisite scene, till ai length the calls of sleep induced 
JUS to descend into our cubin, where our accommodations 
'were very comfortable. With the sun, which was an 
■early riser, v/e unmoored, and advanced but very slowly ; 
as we proceeded, misery in a new shape presented itself. 
From a v/rctched hovel, upon one of the islands which 
began to appear in clusters, hanging over the edge of the 
water, and ready to drop into it, an old man in rags, and 
nearly blind, put off in a little crazy boat, and rowing to- 



3 32 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Ch^?, 9, 

wards us implored oiir charity in the most touching man- 
3ier, and seemed very grateful for the trifle we gave him. 
In the evening, having made but little way, the master 
again moored the vessel to another island for the night ; 
^s I found was the custom, on account of the danger and 
difficulty of the navigation. This island was indeed a 
most enchanting scene ; upon its romantic summit o! 
grey rock we found a little cottage, embowered in trees 
of fir, ash, and elder, that might well be called " the fiea' 
mni's 7iesi" A fisherman, his aged mother, his wife and 
his children, formed the population of this beautiful 
spot. A little field of grass, in which a cow was grazing, 
another of corn, a garden, and the waters of the Baltic, 
which again resembled a lake, supplied them with all 
t^eir wants, and all their riches. Here it seemed as if 
tlie heart could no longer ache, as if ambition might 
I ^vish 10 be what he beheld, and that love might ponder on 
the past without a pang. The inside of the cottage was 
gneat and cheerful ; the good old lady, with the children 
in their shirts playing round her, sat knitting by the light 
of a sprightly fire, and under locks of snow presented a 
face at peace with all the world. Upon hearing that we 
wished to have some supper, the fisherman, with a coun- 
tenance of health and gaiety, descended into a little creek, 
where his boats were moored, for some perch, confined 
in a wicker well in the water, whilst his young wife, who 
had a pair of very sweet expressive eyes, laid the cloth 
in a detached room facing the cottage. Whilst supper 
was prepaiing I rambled over this little paradise. Night 
came on, and all the beauties of the preceding evening, 
with some variety of new forms, returned ; the same 
bright bespangled heaven ! the same serenity ; the same 
silence 1 yielding only to the unceasing rippling of a lit- 
tle stream of rock water, to which, as it gushed from a 
bed of long moss, and as our fair hostess presented her 
pitcher, thriftily fenced with wicker, might be applied 
the beautiful inscription of Bosquillon, on the fountain 
in the street of Notre Dame des Victoires.in Paris ; 

** La nymphe qui donne de cette eaji 
Au plus creux de rocher se cache : 



fcftAP. 9.-] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1S3 

Suivez uri exemple si beau ; 

Donne z sans vouloir qu'on le sache, 

Or thus in English : 

*' Prompt to relieve, tho' viewless wrapp'd in stone, 
The nymph of waters pours her generous stream : 
Go, gentle reader, do as she has done ; 
See while you bless, but blessing be unseen.''* 

J. c. 

It was just such a spot as the poetical spirit of Cowper 
would have coveted : his eye would have penetrated, and 
his pen could alone have painted every beauty. 

On the third day of this voyage of islands, we touched 
at another, and pix)cured a noble pike, fresh from the 
net, and some eggs. Our skipper very ingenioitely kin- 
dled a fire and cooked it in his little canoe, w^hich was 
towing astern, by placing upon the bottom of it a large 
stone, upon which he set fire to some chips and pieces of 
fir, and suspended over it from an oar laid across the 
sides of the boat, an iron pot containing the fish ; our 
eggs formed the sauce, and with a broken saucer for a 
plate, we made an excellent Robinson Crusoe repast. 

One morning as I was looking over the deck from the 
stern, I beheld an operation somewhat ridiculous ; but 
as it originated in rude notions of cleanliness, and iTiore- 
over is one of the domestic customs of the country, I 
shall relate it. Our skipper was lying at the feet of a 
good-natured brawny girl, who was a passenger ; his head 
was on her lap, just as Goliah some time since rested 
his in that of Delilah ; but the fingers of our fair com- 
panion were more kindly employed than were those of 
the woman of the valley of Sorek : the skipper had no 
comb, perhaps never heard of such a thing, and this kind- 
hearted creature was sedulously consigning with a hu- 
mane, because an instantaneous destruction of sensation 
in every vital part by an equal and forcible pressure, ev- 
ery restless disturber of his peace in that region, which, 
most assuredly must be, though doctors may dispute 
the point, the seat of reason ; the cabin-boy suc- 
ceeded his master, and in return, v/ith the keen eye 
and nimble finger of a monkey, gratefully repaid the 
obligation upon the head of his benefactress. In Italy, 

M 



IS4 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 9. 

these engaging little offices of kindness constitute the prin^ 
cipal delights of courtship. 

The islands, after we had passed Aland, and as we ap- 
proached the Gulf, ceased to present any picturesque 
object ; they appeared but a little aboTe the water, and 
were scantily covered with slender weak firs, whose 
naked branches were whitened over with hoary moss, 
and at length, from their number and similarity, became 
very tedious, and as dull as the melancholy forests 
through M^iich our road lay on shore. 

In the midst of the heavy ennui inseparable frdra such, 
a situation, by good fortune upon rummaging my port^ 
mantau I found a catalogue of the year's exhibition ; 
with this precious prize in my hand, I jumped into the 
little canoe astern, and defied the gloom of the rocks and 
firs ; with fresh vigor my memory revisited that splen- 
did gallery of the British arts. The genius of West, 
of Westall, and of Smirke, in history ; of the Daniells, 
and of Turner, in landscape ; and Lawrence, in portrait 
painting, again filled my mind with the proudest sensa- 
tions of delight. During these meditations I had pre- 
vailed upon the president and council to confine the adr 
mission of portraits to a certain number, that the public 
eye might no longer be confused and disgusted by a 
mob of faces^ in which nature had done nothing for the 
originals, or the painter but little for nature. With a 
thrifty use of my treasure, it lasted till tlie tenth, when, 
as I was gazing in my mind's eye, mth silent rapture, 
upon the bust of the lovely Lady Ribblesdale, by Bacon, 
the fairy fabric of my reveries was in a moment destroy-? 
ed by a cry of " there is Abo, there is Abo." 

About two English miles before we reached the town, 
we entered a very narrow channel, not above forty feet 
Vvide, which was marked out by piles, not wide enough 
to admit of large vessels, which are obliged to moor a 
little before the entrance of it. On the left we passed by 
the castle built of brick stuccoed : it is very ancient, 
and has a veiy picturesque appearance, and was once the 
prison of the bloody Eric IV. but is now a garrison. A 
little further on the same side is the house of the gallant 
Admiral Steddynk, who in the last reign displayed dis^ 



Cnw. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1S5 

tinguished skill and bravery in several engagements with 
the Russians, and who has the command of the gun- 
boats, Y/hich are ranged in a long line of boat-houses near 
his residence. It is a matter worthy of observation, 
particularly at this period, that the gun-boats used in the 
naval conflicts bet%\"een Russia and Sv/eden with so much 
effect, originally suggested to France the idea of using 
them against this country. In the seven years war they 
were recommended to the Duc de Choiseul, the minis- 
ter of Louis XV. by Captain Kergvagelin, of the 
Swedish navy^ and in the late revolution by Captain 
Muskein, who was also a lieutenant in the same service : 
this small craft is capable of acting in the Baltic, where 
no tides ever interfere with manceuvres ; but it has ex- 
cited astonishment, not only in Sweden but in every 
other part of the Continent which I visited (and I men- 
tion it with more shame than reluctance, because with 
the millions of England, I believe at the time in the ro- 
mantic practicability of the long, very long threatened, 
invasion), that any reflecting Englishman could believe 
in the possibility of a flotilla of gun-boats crossing such 
an expanse of water as divides the Isle of Wight from 
Boulogne, . subject to the tides, currents, and winds, 
which are with more or less certainty felt there, omittinp* 
the proud and confident reflections which our gallant 
cruisers and channel fleet natura.l!y suggest. We v/ell 
know, that in the year 1T91 Muskein, without having 
much to dread from the natural difficulties before enume- 
rated, on account of the shortness of the distance, at- 
tacked that dot in the channel, the island of St. Marcou, 
with fifty of his redoubted gun-boats ; that the battery 
of the little wave -girt fortress blew her rash and pre- 
suming enemies to atoms ; and that their commander 
with difficulty escaped only to be disgraced by the Di- 
rectory. In mere patriotic ardor and enthusiasm, inde- 
pendent of tides, ciu-rents, winds, cruisers, and fleets, 
the French, if they reflect at ail, will regard St. Marcou 
as a miniature of a greater island. 

Beyond the boat-houses is the custom-house, from 
whence anoflicer came on board, and proceeded up the 
river with us to the town, which, with the cathedral, 



136 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 9. 

now presented the appearance of a large and populous 
city. We soon reached the quay, and very gladly land- 
ed in the capital of Swedish Finland. 

In our inn yard I beheld the first indication of our 
being in the neighborhood of Russia, in a clumsy 
kibitka, the ordinary carriage of that country, and which 
"was here exposed for, sale. It is a small cart, very 
much resembling a cradle, round at the bottom, about 
five feet long, and in which two persons can sit or lie, the 
latter is the usual posture, and who are protected from 
the weather by a semicircular tilt, open in front, 'made 
of broad laths interwoven, and covered with birch or 
beech tark ; it has no iron in it, but is fastened to the 
body of the carriage without springs, by wooden pins 
and ropes : the driver sits upon the front of it, close to 
the horses' tails. At dinner we had some delicious wild 
strawberries, the first fruit that we had tasted for the 
year. 

Abo is situated upon a point of land where the gulfs of 
Finland and Bothnia unite, is a large town, and carries 
on a tolerable commerce. Many of the houses are hand- 
some : they are mostly built of wood, but some are of 
brick stuccoed, and the inhabitants are said to exceed 
ten thousand. The fir of Finland is superior to that of 
any other part of Sweden, and particularly preferred for 
building : great quantities of it are annually sent from 
Abo to Stockholm. The cathedral is a very ancient 
massy pile of brick, displaying no attractions to the eye ; 
and the gloom of the interior is augmented by a barbar- 
ous representation of drapery in blue, upon a leaden- 
colored ground : it contains the tombs of many illustri- 
ous families. Christina, who with all her levities was a 
learned woman, and the munificent friend of learning, 
endowed an university here, which has a library contain- 
ing ten thousand indifferent volumes : the former is not 
in a flourishing condition, and the latter worthy of little 
notice. We ascended the craggy rocks impending over 
one sideof the to^vn, which, with the windings of the 
Aura, and occasional glimpses of the gulf of Finland, 
shining through the openings of those dark forest that 
cover its shores on this side, presented a somewhat iu^ 
teresting, but sombre prospect. ^ 



Chap. 9] NORTHERN SUMMER. 137 

In the course of my northern excursion, it was gen- 
erally my fate, when we passed a night in a town, to have 
a ball or a public coffee room for my chamber, which, 
on account of their size, are generally the most comfort- 
less apartments that a man can attempt to close his eyes 
in. At Abo, my bed was made up in an appendage to 
the ball-room, and had much of Finnish decoration to re- 
commend it. The w^alls w^ere laboriously painted in 
glowing colors, with flaming swords, fiddles, and flutes, 
and seraphim's heads, which were saved from the vora- 
cious and expanded beaks of griffins, by the tender inter- 
position of baskets of flowers, and over the v/hole there 
was a pretty sprinkling of sphinxes and the royal arms of 
Sweden. Here we provided ourselves with a stock of 
provisions for our journey, and early the morning after 
our arrival bade adieu to Abo. The regulation of the 
post and the coin are the same here as in the other parts 
of Sweden. 

As Vv'e proceeded the face of the country began to un- 
dulate ; we observed that the houses were constructed 
of fir trees rudely squared by the axe, and laid, with a 
little moss between, upon each other, the ends of which, 
instead of being cut off, are generally left projecting 
'^^beyond the sides of the building, and have a most savage 
and slovenly appearance. The roof is also of fir, some- 
times stained red ; the windows are frequently cut with 
the axe after the sides of the house are raised. Such of 
these as were well finished had a good appearance, and 
are very warm and comfortable within. Our servant, 
who was well acquainted with the Swedish language, 
began to find himself, every mile we advanced, more and 
more puzzled. 'Th^ fiatois of this province is a barbarous 
and unintelligible mixture of Swedish and Russ. The 
summer now the elevigiith JuJly, ^/y:-5/,^ 
fury, v/ith no other precursors than grass and green 
leaves. " On a sudden the flies wiiich experience a longer 
date of existence in the north than in the milder regions 
of Europe, on account of the stoves used in the former, 
awoke from the torpor in which they had remained, be- 
tween the discontinuance of artificial warmth and the de- 
cisive arrival of the hot weather, and annoyed us beyond 

M 2 



13,8 NORTHERN SUMMER. IChap. 9. 

imagination. They are the musquitoes and plague of 
the north. No one, but those who have suffered, could 
believe them capable of producing so much tormient. 

One night we put up at MjolboUsted, a solitary post- 
house in the midst of a gloomy forest of fir, which lay 
upon the borders of an arm of the gulf of Finland. 
The post-master ushered us into a little hole in a wood- 
en shed, opposite to the post-house, the latter being oc- 
cupied by his family. We had the consolation of find- 
ing that we had the place to ourselves, fronoi which we 
could never have expected to enaerge, if, notwithstand- 
ing the treachery of our vorbode some time before, we 
had not formed a high opinion of Sv/edish morality. 
The windows, which looked into the depth of the forest, 
we;re as immoveable as the building ; this was some- 
what satisfactory. It is always a pleasant thing to 
strengthen favorable impressions with judicious precau- 
tions. The sides of the room were completely encrust- 
ed with flies, who at this moment were recruiting them- 
selves for the mischief of the next day ; and nmice and 
tarraka.ns, or beetles, shared the possession of the floor. 
In two corners of this dolorous hole stood two cribs^ 
each furnished with a bed of straw, a bronze-colored 
blanket well charged with fleas, and a greasy coverlid. 
Cribs are the usual bedsteads in the north. Here we en- 
deavored to invoke that sweet power which 



•seldom visits sorrow ; when it doth. 



It is a coinforter." 
Alas I our wretched taper, and the bustle of bringing in our 
luggage, had excited an alarm amongst our tormentors^ 
who besieged us in battalions. These busy many-eyed 
marauders, with their gossamer wing and incessant hum, 
opposed the approach of sleep, and fairly kept her aloof 
for two long dreary hours. Weary, yet incapable of re- 
pose, something was to be done. I resolved upon re- 
venge, and accordingly made an irritable efibrt to sur- 
prise three of my enemies, v/ho in a row were auda* 
ciousiy washing their little slender black hands upon one 
of mine ; I gained nothing by my rage but (such is the 
association of ideas) the recollection of an admirable rep- 
resentation, wdiich I once saw in aprivate^j-ooiDj of an 



Chap. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 139 

ideot attempting to do the same thing, and the wild de- 
light which he displayed in succeeding, by a gentleman 
who closely and chastely copying nature, the only model 
capable of making any actor great, may be ranked amongst 
the first commedians of his time, I mean Mr. Matthews. 

The impression of that surprising display of imitative 
power, so completely occupied vcie, that in spite of my 
opponents, I succeeded in closing my eyelids, and never 
opened' them until the full day broke in great glory. 
Upon rising I found some brother travellers, who ar- 
rived after we had retired to rest, had slept on the 
earth under their carriage, and were in the act of shak- 
ing themselves and setting off for Abo. I must confess, 
agreeable as solitude frequently is to me, I was glad to 
retire from this species of it. As the sultry sun was 
flaming in the meridian, we passed a large portion of a 
forest on fire. This circumstance w^as not the effect of 
accident nor of a natural cause, which in these regions is 
frequently followed by the most direful consequences^ 
and to which I shall have occasion to allude hereafter. 
By some smart touches of the whip we saved our ser- 
vant, horses and carriage, from being a little toasted on 
one side. What we saw arose from the farmers clearing 
the ground, who confine the flames to the proper boun- 
dary by making an interval of felled trees. In the eve- 
ning we passed by at some distance, another forest which 
was in the same predicament, and had a very sublime 
and novel eftect. 

The country about Borgo, a garrison tovv'"n m.ost mise- 
rably paved, and where our passports w^ere demanded, 
is undulating and fertile, but the cottages in that part of 
Swedish Finland are very miserable, and the peasantry 
wretchedly clothed. The mien, the women, and the 
children, had no other covering than ragged shirts ; al- 
though the sun was too mtense to induce any one to pity 
them on account of their exposure to the v»^eather, yet 
their appearance was that of extreme penury. The road^ 
were still excellent, and enabled us to proceed with oui' 
accustomed velocity. The time did not admit of our at- 
tempting to see the celebrated Swedish fortress of Svea- 
borg, which occupies seven islands in the gulf of Finlanc'* 



14T) NORTHERN SUMMER. [Cha?. 9. 

-and is capable of protecting the fleets of Sweden against 
the Russians. The batteries, basons, and docks, are of 
hewn granite, and said to be stupendous. I was recon- 
ciled afterwards to my not having attempted to see thiis 
place, as I found some English travellers, of great respec- 
tability, were about this time refused permission to view 
it, and that too with some degree of rudeness. ■" 

About three miles from Louisa, another garrison town, 
we reached the frontiers of Sweden, and in a custom and 
guard houses beheld the last remains of that country. A 
Sv/edish soldier raised the cross bar, such as I described 
in Denmark ; we passed over a bridge which crosses a 
a branch of the river Kymen, and divides Sweden from 
Russia. The exclusive tight of painting this little 
bridge, had very nearly inflamed these rival nations to 
the renewal of all those horrors, which have so long and 
so prodigally wasted the blood and treasure of both coun- 
tries. It has been contended, that aggregate bodies of 
men are governed by other rules of conduct, than those 
which ordinarily influence mere individuals : for my 
part I regard a nation only as a man magnified, con- 
stantly displaying all the anger, inveteracy, caprice, and 
petulance of the solitary being. This marvellous dispute, 
after a stormy discussion, with the sword half-drawn, 
was settled in the following manner, viz. Sweden was tcr 
use what sized brush and what colors she preferred, upoti 
one half of the bridge, and on the other Russia the like 
materials intiieway that best suited her fancy ; but it is 
useless to talk about a few piles and planks ; they were 
the ostensible, but the real cause of the difference was, 
and ever will be, the vicinity of the countries, for, un- 
happily ! nations are more disposed to mutual attach- - 
ment, if they cannot see each other. 

Russia has exercised the privilege of her brush with a 
vengeance, not only upon her half of this said bridge, 
but upon all her public buildings, which she has distin- 
guished by a 7;2«^y^!/e' co/or. This predilection is said to 
have arisen from the result of the late unfortunate Em- . 
peror*s reflections upon mankind, whom he arranged' 
under two classes, the good and the bad, thinking no 
doubt with the Spanish proverb, that heaven will be fii- 



q^cAP. 9,] NORTHERN SUMMER. 141 

led with those who have done good actions, and hell with 
those who intended to do them, and accordingly he order- 
ed the fronts of all public railings, offices, &c. to be striped 
\yith white and black. Sancho Pan^a, a man of no lit- 
tle wit and sagacity, thought life susceptible of being 
represented by an intermediate color ; upon returning' 
from an important commission, he was asked by his 
master, whether he should mark the day with a black or 
a, white stone. " Faith, sir," replied his trusty servant, 
«Vif y&a will be ruled by me, with neither, but with 
^.goocl brown ochre^" the color best suited to describe it. 
X heard another reason assigned for this magpye appear- 
ance when I reached the capital. 

A new race of beings, in green uniform, stout, whisk- 
ered, and sun-browned, raised the bar of the barrier on 
the other side of the bridge, stopped the carriage, and 
conducted us to the guard-house, a square wooden build- 
ing, with a projecting roof, resting upon little pillars of 
wood, under the shade of which several soldiers w^ere 
sleeping. This building was of course embellished after 
the fashion of the bridge, and had a most frightful ap- 
pearance : we were ushered into a small shabby room, in 
the windows were some flower pots, and upon an old ta- 
ble the poems of Ossian in French, open, and by their 
side a vast snulf-box and most filthy handkerchief ; pres- 
ently a little old Russian major entered, in a white linen 
dressing-gown, and in French demanded our passports, 
with which he was satisfied, and immediately made out 
our order for post-horses, without which no one can 
travel in Russia, called a podoragina ; upon presenting 
the paper to us, he demanded six rubles and forty co- 
pecs, which he informed us const! uted a part of the rev- 
enues of his imperial majesty ; we told him that we had 
no Russian money whatever, but oltered to pay him in 
Swedish rix dollar notes : " If you have any of them,'* 
said he. " I must seize them," and went into another 
room ; but he uttered this without severity : perhaps 
the consideration that he was speaking to a couple of 
Englishmen softened his tone arid look. In arnoment 
we found ourselves like two ill-starred mice, v/ho unex- 
pectedly find themselves within the basilisk beam of a 
cut's eye. 



U2 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Ghap.,9^ 

Our station from the last post-house in Sweden, ex-^ 
tended to the seventh verst post in Russian Finland, and 
we never entertained an idea that any law so pregnant 
wdth inconvenience existed in Russia, for making Swe-- 
dish money found within its barrier forfeitable, more es^ 
pecialiy as there is^ no bank upon the confines of either 
country. The Major presently returned with a pile of 
notes, exclaiming, " See what a quantity I seized a few 
" days since from a Danish gentleman !" We endeavor- 
ed to give a turn fo the conversation, in which his urha^' 
nity assisted, and at length we paid him in Dutch ducats> 
one proof at least of the safety and convenience of this 
valuable coin. Before we parted, we observed that he 
entered our nam.es in a register as arrivals on the second 
of July : at first v/e v/ere surprised, for, according to my 
journal, it was the fourteenth ; but a moment's recollec- 
tion informed us that we were in a country in which the 
Julian calendar, with the old style, obtains, before 
which our calculation always precedes, by an advanced 
march of twelve days. Both old and new style are 
superior to the poetical absurdity of the French calen- 
dar, Y/hich must be at perpetual variance with the im* 
mutable law of climates and geography : for instance^ 
when a merchant is mel in g away under the fiery sun 
of the French West India Islands, his correspondence 
will be dated Nivose, or the month of snow. 

After making our bows to the little Major, and secretly 
wishing, for his civility, in the language of his favorite 
author, that he might be " the stolen sigh of the soul" 
of some fair Finn girl, and that " her fine blue eyes 
" might roll to him in secret," but not for ever, a circum- 
stance, by the by, which age, form, and feature, had ren- 
dered not very likely to happen, we were m^ost vexatious- 
ly detained en the opposite side of the v/ay by the cus- 
tom-house officers, who, under a broiling sun, ransacked 
every article of our luggage ; even the private recesses 
of the writing-desk were not sacred. The scrupulous 
fidelity with which they performed their duty, was, on. 
this occasion, as, alas 1 on many others of more import- 
ance, the reason of our leaving virtue to be its own re- 
ward ; for, provoked v/ith the trouble they caused us, 



CHAr. 9.] :NT0RTHE]RN summer. 143 

we gave them nothing but black looks, and a few private 
inverted blessing's. 

We nov/ began to reckon our stations by versts : a 
verst is about three quarters of an English mile, and is 
marked upon a post, painted like the bridge, somewhat 
resembling, only that the verst-post is square and much 
taller, a barber's pole. The rapidity of our travelling, 
and the frequent appearance of these memorials of our 
velocity, were the only cheering circumstances that we 
met with. Upon the road we saw several peasants bare- 
headed, cropped, fair, with shorn beards, and booted. 
We met with little or no delay for horses : the peasant, 
to whom they belonged, attended us to take them back. 
After passing through a country the most wretched and 
rocky imaginable, a country formerly wrested by the 
Russians from the Swedes, in v/hich the gloomy sterility 
of nature w?.s only once relieved by the w^aterfalis 
which attracted our notice at Kagfors: and a large camp 
of several Russian regim.ents, who had a very fine ap- 
pearance, we reached, at eleven o'clock at night, the 
draw-bridge of Fredericksham, the gates of which had 
been some time closed. After repeatedly knocking, a 
little beardless officer presented himself, and very polite- 
ly requested to have our passports and post-order, with 
which he disappeared. Here we waited in suspense for 
three quarters of an hour : all owing to the provoking 
integrity and detention of the custom-house officer at 
the barrier. At length we heard some massy bolts 
move, the gates unfolded, and we entered the town 
through a long arch under the ramparts, and anxiously 
looked out for an hotel : it was then as light as the day, 
but as silent as the tomb. At length v/e halted before 
a house, which our little officer, as well as w^e could un- 
derstand him, informed us was the only inn in the 
town. Here we found no person moving : after trying 
at the door for some time in vain- I peeped into the front 
room, and beheld a spaclacle a la mode de Rw^se^ to me 
completely novel ; it was a collection of nine or ten 
men and women all lying, with their clothes on, promis- 
cuously upon the floor like pi:\s, heads and tails togeth- 
er. An officer passing by informed us that this was a 



144 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, i 

private house, and that the inn, in Russ called a kabac, 
was the next door : but that it was locked up and empty, 
the host having gone to enjoy the breezes of the sea 
side for a few days. This circumstance plainly demon- 
strated one of two things ; either that this part of Rus- 
sia is not much frequented by travellers, or, as I fre- 
quently experienced, that an inn-keeper, however poor, 
is very indifferent whether he affords them any accorn- 
modation.. 

We had been travelling all day under a fervid sun, 
were covered with dust, and parched with thirst ; our 
Abo ham was glowing to the bone, our last bottle of 
claret was as warm as milk from the cow, and our poor 
exhausted horses were licking the walls of an adjoining 
building to cool their tongues. In this dilemma I be- 
Iield an elegant young officer, uncovered, in a dark 
bottle-green uniform (the legionary color of Russia), and 
an elderly gentleman, upon whose breast two resplend- 
ent stars shone, coming towards us : these stars were 
two propitious constellations. The principal personage 
addressed us in a very kind and conciliatory manner in 
Erench. Upon our explaining our situation, he said, " I 
" am very sorry this fellow is out of the way, but it shall 
" make no difference. When Englishmen enter Russia 
" it is to experience hospitality, not inconvenience ; trust 
" to me, I vvili immediately provide for you :" he bowed, 
gave directions to an officer who followed at a distance, 
and passed on. This amiable man proved to be the 
Count Merir^nd off, the Governor of Russian Finland, 
who, fortunately for us, had arrived about an hour be- 
fore from Wibourg. An officer soon afterwards came 
to us, and conducted us to a very handsome house be- 
longing to a Russian gentleman of fortune. Our kind 
host, who spoke a little English, introduced us into a 
spacious drawing-room, where we went to rest upon two 
delightful beds, which were mounted upon chairs. Our 
poor servant, after the manner of the Russians, ranked 
no higher in our host's estimation than a faithful mas- 
tiff, and was left to make a bed of our great coats on 
the floor of the entry, and to sleep comme il plait a 
Dieu. 



C^Ait.9.1 N^^RTHBRN SUMMER. lU 

The next day we had a peep at the town, which is 
afnall but hMidsQBie> from tke square in wliich the guard- 
house stands, a building of brick stuccoed, and painted 
green and ,white» almost every sti'eet may be seen. It 
'was here, in the year 1783, that Catherine II. and G.us- 
tavus III. had an interview. Upon this occasion, to im- 
press the Swedish monarch with the magnificence of the 
Russian empire, and to render their intercourse less 
^restrained, a temporary wooden palace was erected, con- 
taining a grand suite of rooms, and a theati^, by the or- 
der of the Empress, The town appeared to b^ filled 
with military. The Russians of consequence generally 
despise a pedestrian. I was uncommonly struck with 
-seeing ofiacers going to the camp, *\nd even the parade in 
the town, upon a di^ska, or, as they are called in Russ, a 
drojeka, an open caniage, mpijnted upon springs, and 
four little wl^eels, formed for Ii,old|ng two persons, who 
sit sideways, with their backs towards each other, upon 
a stuffed seat, frequently made of satin ; the driver wore 
along beard (which, we now beg-an to see upon every 
rustic face), a large coarse brown co^t, fastened rovyid the 
middle by a red sash, was booted, and sat in front, close 
%) the horses^ heels, whcts^ p^.e wasj as is usual in Rus- 
sia, a full trot. 

We here exchanged our Swedish mo^ey at Mr. 
groom's, and f<?und the exchange against us. After ha- 
Ting been so long strangers to the sight of any coin, we 
were surprised by seeing his Russian clerk, habited in ^ 
iong blue coat, &stened round the middle by a sa^h, emer 
the room,, perspiring under the weight of a coarse ^g 
of five-rcopec pieces, a mpn&trous coin, fit for some infan- 
tine republic that might wish to excite a distaste for 
jriches amongst her virtuous citizens, worth about three 
^ence English. It may be as well to run over the coin 
of the country now : 



14S NORTHERN SUMMER. ^Chap. 9. 

COPPER. 

One-fourth of a copec, called a polushka, very few m 
circulation. 

One-half of a copec, called a denishka. 
One copec. 
Two copecs. 
Five copecs. 
Ten copecs. 

SILVER. 

Five silver copec piece, rare. 
Ten ditto. 
Fifteen ditto. 
Twenty ditto. 

One»fourth of a ruble, worth twenty-five copecs. 
One-half of a ruble, worth fifty copecs. 
A ruble, worth one hundred copecs. 
The agio between silver and bank notes, is now about 
twenty -five per cent. 

OOLD. 

A half imperial, worth five rubles. 
An imperial, worth ten rubles. 

NOTES. 

The bills are for five, ten, twenty-five, fifty, and one 
hundred rubles. 

The Russians calculate always by rubles. A ruble is 
now worth about two shillings and eight pence English. 

A silver ruble is equal to a paper ruble, and twenty* 
five copecs. 

It is rather remarkable that the silver rubles, which 
were coined in the last and present reigns, have no im- 
pression of the heads of the l^st or present Emperors, 



eaAP. 10.] NORTHERN SUMMER. I4f 



CHAPTER X- 

Rustic urbanity — Wretched village-— 'No. I.—-Widourg— 
Greek religion-— ji charity Sermon—Religion and ex- 
tortion—A word or two to fortified towns—Starved 
Horses— Volunteer jacket — Appearance of Petersburg— 
Cossac— Renowned Statue. 

WHILST the peasants were adjusting our horses, 
four abreast to the carriage, in the yard of our 
kind and hospitable host, I was amused with seeing with 
what solemn and courteous bows the commonest Rus- 
sians saluted each other ; nothing but an airy dress and 
a light elastic step were wanting to rank them with the 
thoughtless, gay, and graceful creatures of the Bouve- 
lards des Italiens : here the Russian exterior was more 
decisively developed ; but I should wish to postpone a 
more particular description of it until we reach the capi- 
tal ; it is now sufficient to observe, that the men in com- 
plexion and sturdiness resembled the trunk of a tree, and 
that the women were remarkably ugly : I saw not a 
female nose which was not large and twisted, and 
the dress of the latter, so unlike their sex in other re- 
gions, was remarkable only for filth and raggedness. 
Travelling is very cheap in Russian Finland : we paid 
only two copecs for each horse per verst, except for the 
last post to Petersburg, when we paid five copecs. In 
Russian Finland the comfort of sending an avante -courier 
to order horses ceases. On the road we met with seve- 
ral kibitkas, such as I have described. 

After we left Uperla, those extraordinary detached 
rocks, and vast stones, which hitherto had lined the sides 
of the roads and were scattered over the fields,, began to 
assume a redder tint, and to show a greater portion of fria- 
bility than their hard and savage brethren which we had 
left behind, and gradually disappeared in deep sand : the 
country presented a scene of extreme wretchedness. To 
the squalid inhabitants we might have said in the beau- 
tiful language of Cowper ; 



tm NORTHERN StTMMEt. £C]ftA3P. 10^. 



■ Within th' enclosm-e of your rocksj 



Nor herds have ye to boast, nor bleating flocks 
No fertilizing streams your fields divide. 
That show, revers'd, the villas on their side ; 
•i^o groves have ye ; no cheerful sound of bird,. 
Or vokre of turtle, in your land is heard ; 
Mo grateful eglantine regafes the smell 
%)i those that walk at evening whaFe ye dwell.**' 

We halted at a village of old crazy hovels, composed 
cf trunks of trees, rudely thrown across each other, and 
perched upon granite rocks ; every one of thesefoiiorna- 
bodesvvasout of the perpendicular, whilst, froma little hole 
which feebly admitted the light, the smoke issued. The 
Inhabitants were nearly naked, and looked like a race of 
animals formed in the anger of beaven. Instead of the 
tureen refreshing blade, parched hoary morse covered the 
earth ; where the limpid brook ought to have rippled,. 
i& narrow, slimy, brown stream, of reeking offensive water> 
crawled indolently and unwholesomely along. Not a 
Xv^c was to be seen ; not even a m^elancholy fir ! Time, 
that bids the barrenness of nature bear, that enables the 
shepherd and his flock to find shelter and rich pasture in? 
tlie altered desert, has passed over these regions v/ithout 
.shedding his accus'omed beneficence. These people, or^ 
as they are called, the Finns, I found always distinguisha« 
fcle in the capital from the proper Russian, by their 
squalid and loathsome appearance. 

Yet even in this inhospitable spot, are to be found what 
ms^ny a traveller in England has frequently lamented the 
want of, viz. the exposition of every diverging road care- 
fully, and intelligibly, marked out by a directing post. 
Although the peasantry of the country, in these imme- 
diate parts, are so wretched, a considerable portion of 
Russian Finland is considered to be as fertile in corn as. 
.jmy part of the Polar empire. 

We were prevented from reaching Wibourg on the 
-day we set off frona Fredericksham, on account of our 
being detained, for want of horses, at Terviock, which 
forms the last stage to the former place. Here, as it was 
too hot to admit of two sleeping in a chaise, I entered a 
sorry post-hous€ j the room contained only a crib and 



Chaf. 10.] KORTHERN SUMMER. 14^ 

a sheet, as aged, and as bro\^n, and as filthy, as the post- 
master's face and hands, who, after having given nie to 
understand that I might use the bed after he had done 
with it, vef y Gomposedly jumped into it with his clothes 
©R, and soon made this black hole resound with one of 
the loudest, and least tuneable, nasal noises,^ I eve? heard* 
Sleep sat heavy upon me, and with my pelisse for a bed, 
and my portmantau for a pillow, I closed my eyes upon 
the floor, which appeared to be the favorite promenade 
€f flics, fieas, and tarrakans. Necessity, like 

*' Misery, acquaittts a man with Strange bed-fellows»" 

At three in the morning, I was- awakened by the jin- 
gling of the bells of our horses, v,^hich the peasants very- 
merrily galloppedup to the door. The sun was up, and 
threatened very speedily to destr<iy the refresi^ng cool* 
3».ess of the air. At five v,'e passed the bjidge, and werfe 

, at the gate of Wibourg, the capital of Russian Finland. 

,Jt is a large, handsome, fortified town, a place of consi- 
derable commerce, and has been much impi'oved sir^ctf 
the terrible fire which happened in 1793. Like mice^ 
who find no diiTicuity in getting into a cage, but know not 
how to return, we were admitted within th€ g;ates of this 
town with perfect facility, but were detained no less thatt 
nine hours for a new post order, which must be signed 
by the governor or his deputy. It was Sunday, and 
whilst this v/as negotiating, I visited the Greek church, 
which stands ia a corner of the area where the parade is 
held, and is an elegant structure of wood, painted light 
yellow and white, with a roof and dome of coppel^, 
painted green. It had a very light and pleasing effect. 
Every Russian, before he ascended the steps which led 
to the door, raised his eyes to a little picture of the Vir- 
gin, fixed to the cornice, and having uncovered his 
head, inclined his body, and crossed himself with his 
thumb and fore-finger. The Virgin was framed and 
decorated Avith a projecting hood of silver. If she had 
not been produced by the coarse and crazy imagination 
cf the painter, it might have been supposed that one of 
the nymphs, which v/e saw between Fredericksham and 
this place, had sat for the model. She vras a brunette 

N 2 



150. NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 10. 

of the deepest mahogany, and bore no resemblance, 
whatever to any branch of Vandyke's holy family. 

In the Greek church images, musical instruments, 
and seats, are proscribed. Even the Emperor and Em- 
press have no drawing-room indulgence here! No stuff- 
ed cushion, no stolen slum.bers in padded pews, inviting' 
to repose. Upon entering the church, these people 
again crossed and bowed themselves, and then eagerly 
proceeded to an officer of the church, who was habited 
in a rich robe ; to him they gave one of the small pieces, 
of money, and received in return a little wax taper, 
which they lighted at a lamp and placed in a girandole, 
before the picture of the saint they preferred amongst 
the legions enrolled in the Greek' calendar. Some of 
them had a biilliant homage paid to them, whilst others 
were destitute of a single luminary. In the body of the 
church were inclined tables, containing miniatures of 
some of these sanctified personages in glass cases, 
adorned with hoods, of gold, silver, and brass, looking 
vety much like a collection of medals. The screen,, 
composed of folding-doors, at the back of the altar, to 
which a flight of steps ascended, was richly gilded and 
embellished with whole-length figures of saints of both 
sexes, well executed. In one part of the service the 
folding-doors opened, and displayed a priest, called a. 
Papa, in the shrine or sacristy, where lovely woman is 
never permitted to enter, for reasons that an untravelled 
lover would wonder to hear, y/ithout caring for and which 
I leave to the ladies to discover. The priest always as- 
sumes his pontificals in this place, whilst it constitutes a 
part of the privileges of a bishop to robe in the body of 
the church. The sacerdotal habit was made of costly 
^iik and rich gold lace ; and the wearer, who appeared 
to be in the very bloomi of life, presented the most mild,, 
expressive, evangelical countenance, I ever beheld, 
something resembling the best portraits of our Charles. 
I. ; his auburn beard was of great length, fell grace* 
fully over his vest, and tapered to a point. Seen, as I 
gaw him, under this favor of a descending light, he. 
was altogether a noble study for a painter. After read- 
ix\^ the ritual in a low voice, during which his auditory 



Ckap. 10.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 151 

crossed themselves, and one man, near me, in a long 
and apparently penitential gown of sackcloth, repeatedly 
touched the basement with his head : the congregation 
sung in recitative, and with their manly voices produced 
a fine effect. This will suffice for a description of the 
Greek church ; as to its abstract mysteries, they are 
but little known, even to its followers, who recognise 
the authority of their own priests only, and renounce the 
supremacy of the Roman pontiff. 

From this place we proceeded to a refornied catholic 
church, where the preacher was delivering, with appar- 
ently great pathos, a charity sermon, in German : every 
avenue was thronged almost to suffocation ; whenever 
the orator had made a successful appeal, his hearers tes- 
tified their approbation in savage acclamations, and the 
proper officers seized these impressive moments to col- 
lect from the congregation the fruits of their bountiful 
dispositions, received in^a little silk bag, fastened to the^ 
end of a long stick, from which depended a small bell> 
shaken whenever charity dropped her mite. 

I had good reason to believe that our landlord, who 
v/as a thorough -paced Italian, had been a devotee here, 
and wished to supply by extortion the vacancy which a 
sudden impulse of beneficence had occasioned in his^ 
purse, for the fellow had the impudence to charge us 
ten rubles and fifty copecs for a breakfast, a plain dinner, 
and a bottle of claret. " Gentlemen," said he, in reply 
to our remonstrance, (which by the bye was a successful 
one) " why do you object to high charges ? they are the 
" inevitable consequences of approaching the capital.** 
There are some who, thinking with less respect than 
I do of the Russians, would have thought that they had 
inoculated this native of the south with knavery, but I 
was satisfied from his tone, look, and gesture, that he 
took it in the natural way : so wishing that we might 
never see his face, nor that of a fortified town more, we 
mounted our carriage and proceeded to the gate leading 
to Petersburg, where we were again detained at the 
guard-house three quarters of an hour, because it was 
necessary that the deputy governor should once more 



152 :;ORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 10 ' 

See his own wretched scrawl at the bottom of our post- 
drder, not then even perfectly dry. 

In what a situation would English travellers in their 
<iwn country have been, with all their accustomed irri-' 
t^bility and impatience, if the sound sense of ar single 
vote had not overpowered the fortifying phrenzy of a 
certain illustrious engineer ! How many governors, 
gates, and guards, would have been wished at the devil 
a thousand and a thousand times ? The gratitude of those 
who are fond of loco-motive iacility, should long since 
have raised a monument to Wolfran Cornwall. Howev- 
er, our stoppage reminds me to mention a characteristic 
Which I had forgotten : before all the guard-houses in 
the north there is a raised platform of wood, upon which 
are little posts ; against these the soldiers on duty recline 
their pieces. * 

Thank heaven ! we are out of the town, although the road 
is very sandy and hilly. We travelled all night, and in- 
attempling to ascend a long and steep hill, our cattle 
began to flag. There is a very material difference be-' 
tween the Swedish and Russia Finn horses ; the latter 
are much larger but very weak ; indeed they appeared 
to be nearly in the situation of the hack of an eccentric 
genius, wiio resolved to see v/hether his beast could not 
iserve him without food ; for seven days the poor thing 
fasted, but just as his master had taught him to live with- 
out eating, he died. Upon observing the stoppage, our 
j)easant (for in Russia only one takes charge of the post- 
horses) descended, and breaking a sapling fir, would 
have belabored his miserable animals most unmerci- 
fully, had v/e not interfered : famine or excess of tabor 
had fixed theixi to the earth, and they had less motion 
than the firs of the dark and hideous forest in which the 
accident befel us. I would not have answered for the 
perfect patience of Job, had he been obliged to drive 
four in hand in Russian Finland. 

In spite of the military jokes and sparkling philippics 
of Mr. Windham in the senate, I v/as resolved to see if 
a volunteer uniform had really nothing of value in it, but 
to excite a jest. I speedily mounted my jacket, and with 
tlie peasant walked forward to the next post-house, dis- 



CftAt. 10.] l^OUTSEtlN StJMMER. fU 

tant aboiittt^o miles and a half. It tvas in the dead of & 
cloady night ; as we approached the house, I Saw iipoii 
a dreaiy heath six or seven sturdy peasants lying «n each 
Mde of a great blazing fir-tree, fast asleep : 

*' Allow not Nature more than Nature needs ; 
•« Man's life is chea^ as beasts " 

The tiioliieiit the post-tnastelr opened the doof and be* 
held my regimentals, he bowed most respectfully, and 
upon the peasant's explaining the condition of our 
horses, he awakened the peasants by their fir-fire, and 
dispatched four of them to assist in drawing the carriage^ 
and the remainder to catch the horses in the adjoining 
■woods for the next post j he then very civilly placed 
three chairs in a line, and gave me a pillow, looking 
tolerably clean, and thus equipped, I was pi*eparing to lay 
down, when a murchand de liqueur who lived in an oppo- 
site hotel, uncovered, with a large beard, a great bottle 
of quass in one hand, and a glass in the other, entered 
the room, and after crossing himself and bowing before 
me, he pressed me to drink ; all these marks of dis- 
tinction, to which let me add four good courier horses 
for the next stage, were the happy fruits of my volun- 
teer jacket. Thus satisfied, I enjoyed two hours of de- 
licious sleep, until the jingling bells of our poor post- 
horses announced the arrival of the vehicle, and of all the 
cavalcade. 

The follow^ing day we beheld the -shining cupola and 
fepires of the capital, about ten versts from us, just rising 
above a long dark line of fir forests. At twelve o'clock 
we reached the barrier, a plain lofty arch of brick stuc*- 
coed white, from each side of which a palisado ran, part 
of the lines of this vast city. There is no custom-house 
here, but we were detained nearly an hour, ov/ing, as we 
afterwards found, to the officer of the guard, a very fine 
looking young man, and I dare say very brave withal, 
being somewhat of a novice in the mystery of reading 
and writing : our passports appeared to puzzle him 
dreadfully, at length a sergeant, who doubtless was the 
literary wonder of the guard-bouse, was sent for, and in 
two minutes relieved his of^cer and the Englishmen at 



154 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. W 

the sam^ime. A fak-complexioned cossac of the Don- 
habited in a pyramidal red velvet cap, short scarlet cloak, 
with a belt of pistols, a light fuzee slung across his should 
ders, and a long elastic spear in his hand, mounted upon 
a little miserable high -boned hack, was ordered to attend 
us to the governor of the city, and with this garde (Vhori' 
neur we posted through the vast suburbs of Wibourg, 
and at length ascended the Emperor's bridge of pontoons 
or barges ; here the most mganificent and gorgeous 
spectacle burst upon me, and for a time overwhelmed 
me with amazement and admiration. 

The sky was cloudless, the Neva of a brilliant blue,- 
clear, and nearly as broad as the Thames at Westmister 
bridge ; it flowed majestically along, bearing on its bo- 
som the most picturesque vessels and splendid pleasure- 
barges ; as the eye rapidly travelled several miles up 
and down this glorious river, adorned with stupen- 
dous embankments of granite, it beheld its sides lined 
with palaces, stately buildings, and gardens, whilst at a 
distarxe arose green cupolas, and the lofty spires of the 
Greek churches covered with ducat gold, and glittering 
in the sun. Immediately before us extended the magni- 
ficent railing of the, summer gardens, with its columns 
and vases of granite, a matchless work of imperial taste- 
and splendor. 

In the capacious streets of this marvellous city, we' 
passed through crowds of carriages drawn by four horses- 
at length, and a vaiiety of rich equipages, and of people 
from all parts of the world, in their various and motley 
costume. At the goverjnor's office we presented our 
passports, and the cossac left us. The cossacs have a 
curious appearance upon their little shabby horses, which 
have the reputation, however, of being remarkably fleet 
and hardy ; their riders hold their spear, which is from 
fifteen to eighteen feet long, vertically resting upon their 
stirrup. It is said that they have the faculty of calcula- 
ting from the appearance of ti^odden grass, the number 
of men and of cattle that have passed over it, and even 
to ascertain the period of their passing. The cossacs are 
never trained to attack in squadrons : they are always, 
placed in the rear of the army, and act only in a desuito- 



-€«AP. 10.] NORTHERN SUMMER. !5i 

ry manner, upon the retreat of an enemy. At the gov- 
ernor's we were questioned by the officer upon duty, as 
to our motives of travelling, names, Sec. 8cc. ; a descrip- 
tion of his room will serve to give a general idea of the 
arrangements which constantly occur in the Russian 
houses : the apartment was divided by a partition of 
wood, of about three fourths of the height of the room, 
indented at the top and ornamented with tittle crescents ; 
behind this screen was his bed, and in a corner, suspend- 
ed near the top of the cieling, was the framed and glazed 
picture of his favorite saint, before which a lamp was 
burning ; this economy of space gave him the conven- 
ience of two rooms. 

Amidst the tumult of ideas which the scenes around 
us excited, we drove into the yard of Demouth's hotel, 
I believe the best in Petersburg : it is kept by some ci- 
vil Germans, and stands on the side of the Moika, a 
beautiful canal, having a rich iron railing and an embank- 
m.ent of granite. It may be as well now to caution the 
traveller against the free use of the Neva water, which, 
like that of the Seine, is very aperient. 

Our hotel was upon a scale with all the surrounding 
objects, and very crowded ; it was with great difficulty 
that we obtained two uncomfortable rooms, which, ac- 
cording to the custom of the place, we were obliged to 
hire for a week certEiin. One of these apartments was 
divided as I have described, and affiirded a place to sleep 
in for the servant. The walls were covered with a com- 
plete crust of our old tormentors the flies, which in Rus- 
sia, at this season of the year, are little inferior to the 
plague of Egypt. After discharging the dust of Finland 
in a copious ablution, and partaking of a good dinner, at 
which for the first time since we left Stockholm, we tas- 
ted vegetables, I sallied forth, but the day was far gone 

After hesitating some time, amidst such a blaze of no- 
vel magnificence, what object I should first investigate, 
I resolved to present myself at the base of the statue of 
Peter the Great. All the world has heard of this colossal 
compliment paid by the munificence of Catherine II. 
and the genius of Falconet, to the memory of that won- 
derful man, who elevated Muscovy to the rank of an Eu- 



m NORTHERN SUMMER, [ep^. l% 

rppean empire. Filled, as I was, wi^h adjoatiratiaB of ^hj^ 
glorious v/ork; of art, I could not h,:elp regpetting that tb§ 
artist had so mych reduced aad polished the granite rock, 
which, with great grandeur of conception, forms the p€-» 
destal of the statue. The horse, in the act of ascending 
its acclivity, is intended to illustrate the difficulties which 
Peter had to encounter in civilizing his unenlightened 
people. Had this rock retained the size and shape which 
it bore when, as if propelled by some vast convulsion of 
nature, it first occupied its present place, with only ^ 
few of its asperities removed, it would have en creased 
the dignity and expression of the horse and his rider, 
and would have astonished every beholder with a stupen^r 
<ious evidence of toil and enterprize, which since the sub- 
version of the Roman empire has no parallel. A gen» 
tieman, who saw this rock in Carelia, before its removal^ 
^lescribes it to have been forty feet long, twenty-twQ 
broad, and twenty -two high. It is of granite and onyx^ 
and has a mixture of white, black, and grey coloring ; if 
I may judge of it by a seal, which the learned Dr. Qij? 
thrie presented tome, it is susceptible of ^ very fing 
polish. In six months the rock was removed from its 
liiative bed to the spot where it now stands, partly by lap4 
and water, a distance of eleven versts, or forty-one thou-* 
?5and two hundred and fifty English feet, and cost four 
Jiundred and twenty -four thousand six hqndred and ten 
Rubles. So indefatigable has been the labor of the cliisel 
tipon its enormous magnitude and rugged coating, th,at 
its history is its greatest wonder. The genius ofFalcp* 
net was evidently jealous of the rude but stupendous 
powers of nature, and was fearful that her rock might 
engage raiore attention than his statue ; hence he re- 
duced the former, until he rendered it dispropprtioned 
to the colossal figures which it supports ; but he h^if 
thereby succeeded in bringing his work nearer to the 
eye of the beholder. Had he been content to have divi- 
ded the homage with nature, he would not have been fi 
loser. The head of Peter, which is very fine, was modr 
elled by Madame CoUot, the mistress of Falconet. The 
iigure and the drap.ery are admirable, and the horse i^ 
worthy of being r^ked next to his F^neiim brethren, 



^HAr. 1^.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. TsT 

tiibsfe matchless xv^orks of att, which liow adofh the gates 
<5f the Thuilleiies. The sp6t were this statue is raised 
i§ always very iiiuch thronged, on account of its beiii*^ 
<^ntral, and leading to one of the bridges. 

I bestrode one of the little droshkas which I have 
described ; my driver, Mid emitted a most pestiferoii3 
jttiTiosphere of garlic, with a tiii plate upon his back, 
Ttiarked with his number, and the quarter to which he 
belonged, (a badge which is used by all the fraternity, to 
facilitate their punishment, if they behave ill), drove me 
with uncommon velocity. His horse had a high arch 
x)f ash rising from his collar, more for ornament than 
use. I was much struck with the prodigious length and 
breadth of the streets and with the magnitude and magnifi- 
cence of the houses, which are built in the Italian style 
^f architecture, of brick stuccoed, and stained to resem- 
ble stone. They are mostly of four stories, including 
the basement, in the centre of which is generally a large 
•carriage -gatcM^ay : the roof slopes very gently, and is 
ibrmed of sheets of cast iron, orofco*pper, painted red or 
green ; and behind there is a great yard, containing the 
<iut -houses, and ice-houses, and immense stores of 
wood. The vast number also of chariots, each of which 
•Was drawn by four horses, the leaders at a great distance 
from the shaft horses, very much augmented the ef- 
fect. The postillion is always a little boy, habited in a 
round hat, and a long coarse coat, generally brown, fast- 
^ned round the middle by a red sash, and, strangely re- 
tersing the order of things, is ahvays mounted on the off 
horse, and carries his whip in his left hand. The little 
fellow is very skilful and careful, and it is pleasant to 
hear him whenever he turns a corner, or sees any one in 
thfe road beibre him, exclaim, oi' rather very musically 
sing, " paddee 1 paddee 1 paddee 1" The coachrnan, 
or, as Ire is called, the Ishvoshick, is dressed in the same 
manner,' and wears a long venerable beard ; behind 
the carriage are one or two servants in large, laced, 
•locked hats, shewy liveries, military boots and spurs. 
What an equipage for St. James's-street on a birth-day I 
Th6 beard of the Russian charioteer would here produce 
ki strong a sens^atien, as did the -neat, formal, little- bob 

O 



158 NORTHERN SUMMER, [Chap. II. 

ivigof Lord Whitworth's coachman in the streets of. 
Paris. The carriage and horses in attendance are stand- 
ing the greater part of the day in the court yards, or be- 
fore the houses of their masters ; the horses are fed in 
harness, and the little postillion is frequently twenty -four 
hours in the stirrup, eats, drinks, and sleeps on horses 
back, and the coachman does the same upon his box. 
A stranger immediately upon his arrival, if he wishes 
to maintain the least respectability, is under the necessi* 
ty of hiring a coach or chariot and four, for which he 
pays two hundred rubles a month. Without this equip* 
age a traveller is of no consideration in Petersburg, 



CHAPTER XI, 

Advantages of the im^ierial city — <The village architect-^ 
The suminer gardens — Kissing-— Horses with false hair 
*~^Sweetness of Russian language-— Bearded milliners-—^ 
Jncorrulitlbility of beards — iGreat riches amassed by 
common Russians—The cause of humanity and justice— -* 
Music and argument better than the ivhifi'—A negroes 
notions— -Slav ery^^The neiv kazan—^The knout. 

PETERSBURG is worthy of being the capital of an 
empire as large as the half of Asia, more than 
twice the size of Europe, and covered with a population 
of forty millions of people. Its boundaries measure 
about twenty English miles, but the circumference of the 
ground actually built upon is considerably less. The 
vast space of its streets and areas will ever give it 
superiority over every other European capital ; but 
its principal beauty arises from its being the result of 
one mighty design. 

In almost every other city, the buildings at once dis- 
play the progress of its prosperity and taste. In some 
dark and narrow lane a palace rears its head : or, in an 
handsome street; the eye is suddenly offended, by be- 



&A^. no NORTHERN SUMMER. 159 

holding the little squalid abode of a marchand de liqueur. 
Most towns, in their progress, have resembled the house 
of the Cornish fisherman, who at first thriftily built his 
little abode of one story ; becoming prosperous, he re- 
solved upon raising it, and accordingly sent for a neigh- 
boring carpenter : the village architect, to whom I sup- 
pose the names of Holland, Wyatt, and Cockerell, were 
as foreign as that of Palladio, upon being informed of 
the object of his employer's wishes, the builder very 
judiciously begged him to stand up, took measure of 
his height, and raised his simple chateau one story high- 
er, in which the owner and his wife could very com- 
fortably walk without stooping. In process of time, 
the fisherman became rich by privateering, the houso 
must be enlarged, the roof was removed, and two rooms, 
twice the height of those below, occupied the place of 
the garret, which was promoted one story higher. 

In the capital before us, time has been actively and 
ardently employed in filling up one grand outline. What 
death prevented Peter the Great from executing, succes- 
sive sovereigns, and particularly Catherine II., and the 
present Emperor, with great taste and encouragement, 
have nearly accomplished. So rapidly has this city 
risen, that a traveller might think that one mind had 
planned, and one handhad executedthe whole. Very few 
of the ancient wooden houses remain ; and those which 
have not yet fallen a prey to time, are lost in the spendor 
of the buildings that surround them. 

Of the magical celerity with which buildings are 
constructed in Petersburg the reader may judge, when 
he is informed that five hundred noble houses were 
erected in the last year ; yet, though building so rapidly 
■ advances in the city, its population, by the last estimate, 
it appears has rather declined, whilst that of the country 
has encreased. I have before stated the amount to be 
forty millions, in which two females are averaged to one 
male. / 

To all great national works, the government and the 
genius of the country have been propitious. Unbound- 
ed power presents an Emperor of Russia with the lamp 
of Aladdin j at his nod a temple of ice rears its chrystal 



i6Q -NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. M> 

front, or a rocky mountain floats upon the ckep.^ At 
Petersburg there is no public to consult, the public 
buildings are therefore the result of one man's will. In 
England the public is every thing, and the variety of its 
taste appears in the variety of its buildings. 

Petersburg is divided into three grand sections by the 
Neva, and a branch of it called the Little Neva, which 
issues from the Ladoga lake, and disembogues in the 
gulf of Cronstadt : this division resembles that of Paris 
by the Seine. The first section is called the Admiralty 
quarter, situated on the south side of the river, and com- 
prises the largest and most superb part of the city, and 
is the residence of the Imperial family, the nobility, a 
principal part of the merchants and gentry, and nearly^ 
the ^Ybole of the trading community : this part is formed 
into ^ number of islands by the intersections of the 
Moika, the Fontanka, the Katarina, and Nikola canals* 
The second section is named the Vas^li Gstrof, situated 
on the north-west of the river, where there are laaany 
public buildings and elegant streets ; this part coincides 
with the Fauxbourg St. Germain of Paris : and the third 
ig ca,lled the Island of St. Petersburg, standing on the 
north side of the river, and is distinguishable for the for- 
tress and containing some good streets. 

The country about the city is very flat §njd sterik. ; 
but the gardens in the suburbal p>art have been much im^ 
proved by the introduction of vast quantities of vegetable 
mould, which has been brought from distant parts of the 
country, and also by ship ballast. The morniiig after 
oui; arrival, was spent in delivering our letters of intro- 
duction ; and such is the spirit of hospitality here, so 
frequently and so justly extolled, that it became n§- 
c^ssary to chronicle down the invitations that flowed in 
upon us from all quarters. 

In cur walk upon this occasion, it was with astoliish- 
ment that we beheld the bank and pavement of hewn 
granite, which we first saw in the English line in the 
GaleernhoSf: figure to yourself a parapet and footpath 

* The, re4estal of Peter the Great, wliich ^yas floated «p the 
Neva on vast rafts. 



CHAr. 11.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 161 

of the hardest rock which nature produces, of great 
breadth and thickness, gracing the southern side of the 
river, and running parallel, with a line of magniiicer.t 
palaces and splendid mansions for near two English 
miles 1 - 

In the evening I visited the summer gardens that face 
the Neva, the palisade of which unquestionably the 
grandest in Europe, is composed of thirty -six massy Dc- 
ric columns of solid granite, surmounted by alternate 
Vases and urns, the whole of which, from the ground, 
are about twenty feet high, connected by a magnificent 
railing, formed of spears of wrought iron tipped with 
<lucat gold. The decorations over the three grand en- 
trances are also exquisitely, wrought, and covered with 
gold of the same siiperior quality. As near as I could 
ascertain by my own paces, the length of this magnificent 
balustrade must be about seven hundred feet. The pil- 
lars would certainly be improved were they thinner or 
fluted. It is custom a,ry to attend a little more than or- 
dinary to dress in this promenade,"as the ImperLd family 
frequently walk here. The walks are very extensive, 
umbrageous, and beautiful, though too regular : they 
are all of the growth of Catherine the Second's taste ancl 
liberality. Here only the chirping of the sparrow is to 
be heard ; not a thrush, linnet, or goldfinch are to be 
found in Russia. Amongst the women, who were all 
dressed a lamode de Paris^ there were some lovely faces ; 
but to prevent incensebeing offered upon a mistaken altar. 
let me hint that they were Polish beauties : to each o.i 
the groupe one might have said, 

** You are the crueli'st she alive, 

If you will lead these graces to the grave 
And leave no copy." 

A young officer of the Imperial guards approached on 3 
of them and kissed her hand, and, as he r;:ised his head, 
the lady kissed his cheek : it is the custom bi Russia. 
I sit possible, thought I, that this spot in no very distant 
day, owned a Swedish master ? Can a little p?dtry bridge 
make all this difference betv/een the belles of the two. 
covmtries ? But I wi'l leave this point undecided. Be 

O 2 



let NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 11. 

it as it may, the salutation was the most graceful I ever 
\yitnessed : it was poUteness improved by the mogt 
charming: gallantry — ^bows, curtsies, aiid salams, are 
icicles to it. Whilst France furnishes us with caps, and 
bonnets, and Egypt with dusky side -boards, may the 
Russians fix the universal mode of friendly ijieeting be- 
tween the sexes for ever and for ever ! 

This captivating characteristic, and, as the sun desr 
cends,' the gentle sound of lovers whispering in the 
shade, and the beauty of the spot, entitle the Summer 
Gardens to the name of the Northern Eden. Where 
the parties are not familiar, the lady bows^ never curtsies : 
the attitude is very graceful. As I am upon the subject 
cf ii.i3sing, and quit it with reluctance, I beg leave to 
state, that in Easter every Russian, be his rank in life 
however humble, and his beard as large, long, and as 
bristly as ever graced or guarded the chin of a man, 
may, upon presenting an egg, salute the loveliest v^^oman 
he meets, however high her station : they say, such i^ 
th 2 omnipotence of the custom, that, during this deli- 
clous festivel, the cheek cf the lovely Empress herself, 
were she to be seen in the streets, would not be exempt 
from the blissful privilege. 

As I approached the Summer Gardens, to which a 
great number of equipages were hastening, it was curi- 
ous to observe the prodigious fulness of the horses' 
manes and tails, which are never cropped : to the former 
the Russians pay a religious attention ; they even carry 
it so far as to adorn them, as many of the British fair 
decorate themselves, with fdse hair. To show the vari- 
ous prejudices of mankind, it is only a short time since 
that marcs were rode. On the appearance of a friend of 
mine some years since mounted upon one of them, the 
men expressed their astonishment, and the women tit- 
tered. Geldings are prohibited, as useless animals. In 
the streets it is very common to see pairs of Russians, 
Vrho in their dress much resemble the. boys of Christ's 
Hospital, v/alking hand in handy neve^^rm in arm. 

The Russian language sounded very sv/eet to my ears, 
and peculiarly so as it flowed from the lips of Madame 
Khremer of the English line. There is something 



GhaPv li.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 163 

very mvisical m the follovying expression: '^ Fctar vkita, 
fiadeta suda^' Pray, sir, come and sit by ine. French 
is chiefly spoken tmiongst the well-bred Russians who 
are said to be iuiperfectiy aequdnted with their o^\^l 
IangA.i?.ge : tki^ is.on« of the. fociish effects of fashion. 
The Russians always add the Christian name of their 
father to their own, with the termination of ivitch or 
ev^eieh^ which denate;^ the son, as ovna or eona does the 
daughter. 

It requires &oBieijit^rest, time, and trouble, before a 
stranger ca^ sx^e th&. paiae-^ and public buildings, I 
therefore recomn'xend him, through the medium of his 
ambs^ssadpr, to be speedy in making the arrangements 
for this purpose. Whilst these matters were negotiating 
in our favor, I resolved to make the best of my time iii 
seeing what lay expanded before me. Accordingly a 
friend of mine ordered his Russian servant to drive us to 
the fortress : when the ixian received his orders, he 
curled up his beard, took off bis hat, scratched his head<> 
aud expressed, by his manner, some reluctance and dis- 
gust, which arose, as we afterwards found, from the 
horror with which the coinmon Russians regard the 
citadel, on account of its containing the state dungeons, 
and of the horrible stories to which they have given 
birth. As we gallopsGl all the way, the usual pace in 
Petersburg, we soon crossed the Emperor's bridge, and 
passed the draw-bridge, and outer court of this melan- 
Qhoiy place, which is built of massy walls of brick, feced 
v/ith hewn granite, of the same materiajs as the five bas- 
tians which defend it. We were set down at the door 
of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, remarkable for 
being the burial-place of the Russian sovereigns, and for 
its lofty and beautiful spire, two hundred and forty feet 
high richly covered with ducat gold. The inside of the 
church was damp and dreary, and had no beauties of 
architecture to recommend it. In oblong square se- 
pulchres of stone,' raised and arranged in lines on the 
right of the shrine, and covered with velvet richly em- 
broidered with gold and silver, repose the remains of 
Peter the Great, his Empress Catharine, the celebrated 
peasant of Livonia, of Alexey, Anne, Elizabeth, and 



164 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1 h 

Peter III. and Catherine II. ; and, on the other side of 
the church, at a distance is the tomb of Paul, the late 
Emperor, opposite to a whole length painting of the 
Saint of his name, covered like the others, but with more 
cost and grandeur. An inscription in copper informed 
us, that the unhappy Emperor died on the eleventh or 
/we//? A of March, 1801. On each side of the church, 
very carelessly arranged, are banners of war, trun- 
cheons, keys of cities, and arms, taken in battle by the 
Russians : amongst the former were some Turkish col- 
ors taken by Count Orloff, or rather, if merit had its 
due, by the Bridsh Admirals Greig and Dugdale, in the 
celebrated engagement off Tscheme, when the whole 
of the vast Turkish fleet, except one man of war and a 
few gallies, were burnt, so that " the sun at its rising 
" saw no more of its flag." 

The view from the belfry is one of the grandest spec- 
tacles I ever beheld : below flowed the Neva ; before us 
lay the whole city expanded, from the Convent des De- 
moiselles to the end of the Galeernhoff, a line of palaces 
and superb houses, extending nearly six English miles ; 
immediately facing us was the marble palace, the palace 
of Peter the Great ; the hermitage, the winter palace, 
crov/ded with statues and pillars ; and the admiralty, 
its church, and the dome of the marble church ; in the 
fortress frorn this height we could discern a number of 
gloomy prison yards and the gratings of dungeons, than 
which nothing could look more melancholy ; and also^ 
the mint, which appeared a handsome building, where 
the gold and silver from the mines of Siberia are reflned 
and converted into coin. Here also we had a fine view of 
the country over the Wibourg suburbs, and in a distant 
part of the citadel was pointed out the court of the pris- 
on ill which the unfortunate young princess, who was en- 
snared from Leghorn by the treacherous stratagems of 
Orloff, and afterwards confined in this place, is said to 
have perished. The story of this devoted young per- 
sonage is still wrapped in some obscurity : After the 
burning of the Turkish fleets near Tscheme, a beautiful 
young Russian lady, atteneded by an elderly lady, appear- 
ed at Leghorn j although she appeared without sh^w,. 



Chap. II.] NORTHERN SUMMEK. 165 

or the means of making any, her society was ipuch 
courted on account of the sweetness and accomplish- 
ments of her mind, the attractions of her person, and a 
certain air of majesty w'iiich particularly distinguished 
her. To some of her most confidential friends she 
communicated the fatal secret, that she was the daugh- 
ter of the Empress Elizabeth by a private, raaa'rii^-e, 
and that her pretensions to the throne of Russia were 
superior to those of Catherine 11., to whoge suspicious 
ear the communication w^s imparted with uAcominon 
celerity. Allured by the deceitful solicitations of a Rus- 
sian officer, who was an agent of Count Orloff, who pro- 
Jtiised to esp(>use hei> cause, and to gain over tlie Count, 
she came to Pisa in the year 1775, where Alexey Orloff 
th,en resided in great magiyiicence during the rep^ii^s of 
his fieet. Upon her arrival the Count paid his respects 
to her with all the deference and ceremony due to a 
feigning spverign^ afiected to believe her story, and pro- 
:^\iised to support her pretensions. At length, after ap- 
pearing vvith her at every fasluo;nable place during the 
cstrnivai, and pa^ying her the most marked and flattering 
..^tentions; he ayoWiid? in the most respectCui manner, a 
.tender pas-sion for her, jmkI submitted to her the glitter- 
ing prospect of her mounting with him the throqe to 
waich she was entitled. Intoxicated with the idea? she 
gave him her hand. A few days after the nuptials, the 
-jCoLint announced a mAgniiicent marine entertamment 
ill honor of the marriage,. The young personage pro- 
ceeded to hi<* ship ia all irnsjgi^ary naval pomp ; as sooa 
.as she entered the cabin, gr?x.ious heaven, what a display 
^^pf treachery was developed 1 OrloiT upbraided her with 
i.^ejiiiT^ an ijmpostor, and the more barbarously to degrade 
her, ordered her delicate hands to be fastened by hand- 
cuS's, -vyhicli had been prepared for the purpose, and quit- 
ted the ship which inimediitely sailed for Gronstadt, 
,fi-om v/hence she was brought to the fortress in a caver- 
.j-ed barge, v/here she v/as immolated, and neyer heard of 
more. It is supposed that she was drowned in her 
-.dungeon, which was rather d^^ep; duriiig one of the inun- 
..d^i'iDns of the Neva. In a part of this fortress is a little 
.^a^> wluch is said to be the father of the Russian marui©, 



1^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [CuAiliC 

by ha\ing furnished Peter the Great when a child, with 
the rudiments of naval architecture, which he afterwards 
so passionately pursued at Sardam. It was brought 
from Moscow, and deposited here with great pomp, in 
1723, and was called by Peter " the Little Grandsire /^ 

Upon our return from the fortress I took a view of the 
celebrated street called the Grand or A'evski., Perspective : 
it runs in a direct line from the church of the admiralty, 
from|which the principal streets of the admiralty quarter 
branch like radii, to the monastery of St. Alexander Nev- 
ski : its length is about four miles, and its breadth not 
quite equal to that of our Oxford-street ; it is lined with 
very noble houses, and what willafiord the most delightto 
the liberal and reflecting observer, with elegant churches, 
in which the devout man, without restraint may wor- 
ship his God after the dictates of his own habits or per- 
suasion. Here sectarian fury never disfigures the tern.-- 
pie of the Almighty : the Greek and the Protestant, the 
Armenian and the Catholic, here quietly pass to their 
respective places of devotion, and unite in sending up to 
the throne of heaven the hallowed, though varying, 
sounds of their grateful adoration, which, blending as 
they ascend, charm the Divine ear, with the most accep-- 
table homage, the harmony of religion. 

The late Emperor very materially affected the beauty 
of this street by destroying the foot-paths which were 
formerly on each side, and forming a very broad path in 
the centre of it, v/hich he planted with Linden tree?,, 
and guarded by a low railing. The idea was evidently 
taken from the beautiful Linden walk at Berlin, which 
originated in the exquisite taste and genius of Frederic, 
so justly called the Great. The trees look very sickly, 
and for want of soil and moisture never can flourish, and 
cannot atone for the violation which is offered to taste. 
If this great nuisance was removed, the perspective 
would be one of the finest in Europe. The great bee- 
hive of the city, called the Gostinnoi dvor-f is in this 
street ; it is a vast building, wholly dedicated to trade, 
containing two piazza stories, and presenting three un- 
equal sides, the longest of which is upwards of nine hun- 
dred feet : under this roof is an immense number of 



Chap. 11.] NORTHERN SUMMER. I6f 

shops and stores : the neatness of the shops, and the 
dexterity and activity of the shopmen, cannot but im- • 
press a stranger. The haberdashers here, as in England, 
afe fine lusty fellows, but add to their athletic appear- 
aiice a prodigious bushy beard ; this said beard is the 
pride and glory of Russian naanhood : 

" It is the equal grace 

Both of his wisdom and his face/* 

which the churches of the north and of the east protect- 
ed with uncommon zeal and contumacy, whilst the ra- 
zor of ecclesiastical discipline committed sad ravages 
upon it in the southern and western regions : at one 
time, as if in derision, this venerable growth of the hu- 
man visage was cut into a tapering cone, it next assumed 
the gravity of the scollop, then it alarmed the ladies in 
•whiskers, and afterwards tickled their cheeks with a few 
monkish hairs upon the upper lip, till at length the holy 
scythe, pursuing its victory, cleared every hair, until the 
chin assumed the polish and smoothness of an alabaster 
statue. 

The Russian beard struck terror into the soul of Peter 
the Great, he dared not attack it. It was not surprising 
that Catherine wished to see its honors shorn but amidst 
her mighty and resplendent conquests, the beard re- 
mained not only unassaulted but unassailable ; and if a 
smooth chin is one of the characteristics of high civili- 
zation, I believe the Russian will implore his saint to let 
him live and die a barbarian. 

The following anecdote is an authentic one : A noble- 
man having laid a wager upon the subject, offered a 
common Russian, one of his slaves, freedom and two 
thousand pounds to part with his beard ; the reply of 
the poor fellow was, " I had sooner part with my life." 
To return to the shops ; before the door of each of them, 
parades a shop-boy, whose duty it is to importune every 
passenger to walk in and buy : this little fellow seems 
to partake of the same spirit y/hich so indefatigably 
moves his brethren, who mount guard before the old 
clothes and slop shops of Monmouth-street. 



it$ NORtllERN SUMMER. [Ghap. H. 

The acuteness, frugality, aiid perseverance, of tHese 
peiDple, virtues which never fail to raise for their fortu- 
nate possessor a pyramid of wealth, is "siirpfizititg. 
Most of these tradesmen have been rasnoschiks, or am- 
bulatory venders of little merchandizes in the street^, 
•who, by a judicious application of the golden ruJe, 
<' take care of the cofiecs^ and the rubles will take care 
" of themselves," well digested with black bread and a 
little quas, a common antiscorbutic acidulous beverage, 
produced by pouring hot water on rye or barley, and fer- 
mented, have become marcJiahds des mc'des^ or, success- 
ful followers of other trades ; the Auitful principle of 
getting and saving has enabled them to purchase houses, 
and com.mence money brokers and lenders, in which ca- 
pacity many of them die immensely rich. 

These shopkeepers have also their phrases of allure- 
■ment. The haberdasher says : " Walk in my fair o-ne, 
*' we have straw bonnets which will very much become 
" that pretty face ; oh ! how well they would look upon 
" you : how much more your lover would adniife you 
" in one." In an adjoining shop the shoemaker is seen 
sweeping the pretty foot of some fair customer vvith his 
long beard, as he adjusts the glossy slipper. Upon ta- 
bles, before the doors of the upholsterers, in which all de- 
scriptions of furniture may be purchased, plaister of 
l^aris busts of Alexander and his Icvely consort are pre- 
sented to the eye : " Sir, I am sure you like the Empe- 
" ror and the Empress, they are exactly like the origin- 
" als, you shall have them for twelve rubles ; I cannot 
^' sell them apart, they must not be separated, they al- 
« ways go together, sir ; they are, you miay rely upon 
" it, exactly like the originals." 

The consummate knowledge which the Russian shop- 
keeper possesses of the most coin plicated calculation, 
and the entangled ce.prices of that cameleon-colored god- 
dess who presides over the Exchange, is absolutely as- 
tonishing;. If he cannot write, he has recourse to a small 
wooden frame, containing ro-;vs of beans, or little wood- 
en balls, strung upon stretched wires, and with this sim- 
ple machine he vrould vSet the spirit of Necker at defi- 
ance, it has been the fashion amongst travellers to as- 



enA?; 1 1.] NORTHER]^ SUMMER. 1 6S 

sert, asid they seem to have alternately received and im^ 
parted the prejudice, without the trouble and the justice 
of : maldng- their own observations, that the Russians are 
th-e greatest cheats in the universe. If the worthy shop- 
keepers of London, of Paris, and of Vienna, had nevei' 
been known to consider that the 

" — — — value of the thing 

Is jiist as much as it will bring/' 

then^ indeed, might Mercury, invested v/ith his least 
favorable attribute, regard the shop-boards of Gostin- 
noi dvor as his^chosen altars. Accustomed to obtain 
wealth in the detail, and to have their reservoirs filled by 
partial drops, and not by copious showers, they display 
that little trick, which may be seen in all other countries 
linder sirmlar influences. It is related of Peter the 
Great, that when a deputation of Jews v^aited upon him, 
l-o' solicit permission to settle at Petersburg, he replied t 
'* My good friends, I esteem you too much to grant you 
^<' that fa\T)r, for my people will out- vdt you." 

The Russian has an apology for his craft ; nature fur^' 
nishes him with it ; he is doubly a slave, first to hisim- 
m.ediate master, and secondly to his Emperor. It is the 
policy of the poor fellow, to conceal as cautiously as he 
can, not from the latter, for he is the fond father of his 
people, although constitutionally his paramount owner, 
but from his immediate lord, the amount of his profits : 
he does, what I have heard has been done in another 
country, where, thank God, petty legalized tyranny has 
" ihever yet had an inch of ground to rest upon 1 he makes 
an inaccurate r<?rtt'r« of income to avoid an augmented 
imposition upon his profits. Men, whilst they have 
wigs upon their heads, and robes opon their shoulders, 
may perJiaps blame him, but when these grave and im- 
pressive habiliments of morality arc quietly placed upon 
their respective pegs, their owners will, I am confident, 
pity, smile upon, and pardon^ this hard and much injur- 
ed toiling son of traffic. In so severe a degree does this 
sort of subordinate, and ever the most grinding and per- 
nicious of all slavery exist, that it is no unusual thing 
for a peasant to be exchanged for a horsey and even a 

P 



170 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. U. 

favorite dog." A certain Russian Countess used to make 
her Calmuc girls read to her till she slept, and under the 
pain of severe flagellation, continue to read afterwards, 
to prevent her being awakened by the effect of sudden 
iilence, 

I one day saw a Russian, distinguished only from the 
commonest sort by the superiority of the cloth of his 
long coat, who had paid fifteen thousand pounds for his 
freedom, and had amassed, by indefatigable industry, a 
fortune of one hundred thousand pounds : and hot far 
from my hotel resided a Russian, who in the short space 
of twelve years, w ith a fair character, had amassed nearly 
a million sterling. r|' 

I am ready to admit that the petty stratagems of the 
counter can never be justifiable, and that a propensity to 
conceal may increase them. The more assailants mo- 
rality has, like every other assaulted power, the less is her 
security, and if she withstand, the greater her triumph ; 
whilst she is expelling knavery at one gate, falsehood 
may enter at another, and this contentious combination 
frequently terminates in the restoration and victorious 
settlement of both. Upon the mausoleums of few, may 
justly be recorded the beautiful epitaph which appears 
vipon the tomb of the brave and generous Philip de Vil*' 
liers risle d'Adam, in the imperial museum of monu- 
ments in Les Petites. Augustines at Paris : 

•' Here lies Virtue vanquishing Fortune.'* 

But do not let us think, that the Russian is naturally 
worse than his brethren in other parts of the globe. Hea- 
ven has scattered our infirmities pretty equally ; and I 
must again repeat, that the little stratagems of our north- 
ern brother find considerable palliation in the law, that 
secures net the fruits of his labor, but exposes him to the 
iron grasp of rapacious and unrelenting oppression. 

Tiie late Catherine thought, that the glory of gover|i<^ 
m^ent did not consist alone in military triumphs ; alarip?- 
ed, as she most assuredly was, yet wholly uninfluenced, 
by the terrible storms of the French revolution, it was 
the anxious ^m and the cordial desire of her long and 



Chap. 11.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. IM 

splendid reign, to civilize her people by gradually un- 
folding to them, through a soft corrected medium, the 
glorious light of freedom. Her sagacious mind taught 
her to know, what Cowper has so exquisitely described, 
that 

" all constraint 



Except what wisdom lays on evil nien, 

Is evil ; hurts the faculties, innpedes 

Their progress in the road of science ; blinds 

The eye-sight of discovery ; and begets 

In those that suffer it, a sordid mind 

Bestial, a meagre intellect, unfit 

To be the tenant of man's noble form." 

The modern Semiramis made some, though inconside- 
rable advances in the abolition of this odious vassalas-e, 
and during its continuance, checked its v/anton abuses 
by some wholesome corrections. The same wise and 
benign desire exists in the breast of the reigning Empe- 
ror. Yet the labors of so noble an undertaking aie im- 
m.ense. Genius and patience, firnmess and perseverance, 
unextinguishable enthusiasm and heroic philanthropy, 
must possess the head and heart of that being who ac- 
complishes so glorious an achievement. Alas ! baronial 
pride and hereditary prejudice, and that invincible attach- 
ment of man to property, have opposed, and will long- 
oppose, this " consummation so devoutly to be wished." 
When once the Russian peer shall talk of his estate by 
its quantity and its quality, and not by the degrading 
enumeration of so many heads of peasantry ; then, and 
not till then, can civilization make any rapid and exten- 
sive progress in this vast empire. 

To say that nature has irreversii)ly doomed the Rus- 
sian to be a barbarian, is an assertion as disgraceful as it 
is unjust, and such as nature has herself contravened. 
Amidst all the oppression that weighs him to the earth, 
that half associates him with the rugged bear of his for- 
est ; and taught, as he is, that his condition can never 
know amelioration, this poor slave of the north has dis- 
played the most heroic valor in the field, the most gentle 
moderation in success, and the mildest unrepining phi- 
losophy in suffering : such as would have done honor to 



irt NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, ii; 

a Roman. If you ask whether the sensibilities of natui?e 
ever softened the Russian breast, read what the poor ex- 
iles have expressed in the desolate wiles of Siberia, and 
it wi31 put the feelings of your own lieart to their fullest 
proof. In those regions of gloom, the poet may catch 
some of the finest subj.ects foi' his muse. 

J^et us not endeavor to convert the law of cliiaates inta 
the ruthless decrees of immortal vengean<:e. Well did 
the poor African say, " Ah 1 massa, a good Negro is like 
" a chesnut, all u^kite Vt^itliin ; and a Sad Englishman is. 
♦^ like an apple, thought perfect when it has many little 
" black grains in its heaTt." No i no 1 the breast of the 
Russian is not unimpressible. The granite of his incle-^ 
Kient region is hard and rugged, harder than any other 
ix)ck ; but under its rough surface gems are sometimesi 
found, and time and toil have proved that it is suscepti- 
ble of a high polish. 

No one who has remarked the Russian with candor, 
who judges from what he sees, and not from v/hat he has, 
heard or read, will hesitate to pronounce him one of the 
best tempered creatures in tlie creation. He will bear 
the curse and scorn, and frequently the blows of hi^ su- 
perior, with mildness. Revenge, almost sanctioned by 
insults, never maddens his blood ; and knowing, per- 
haps, how hard it is to suffer without resisting, he is 
scarcely ever seen to strike the animal over which he has 
power. His horse is seldom propelled by any other in- 
.fiuence than a few cherishing and cheerful sounds ; if this 
encouragement increases not his pace, he does not, heated 
with savage fury, dissect the wretched beast with the 
scourge, beat out an eye, or tear out the tongue ; no i 
his patient driver begins to sing to him, and the Russians 
are all famous singers, as I shall hereafter tell : if the 
charms of music have no influence on his legs, he thent 
begins to reason with him ; " You silly fellow ! why 
" don't you go on faster ? come, get on, get on, don't you 
« know that to-morrow is a prashnick (a fast day) and 
" then you will have nothing to do but to eat ?" By this 
time the sulky jade has generally had her whim out, ancj 
trots on gaily. His horse is the object of his pride and 
comfort ; well observing the wisdom of a Russiau prQ« 



CrtAP. 1.1.] N^irEiim?>^ roM^iiSH. 17:3 

vti^- "'It is not thTe^HoTse but tlie oTits- that cai^r)^ you r' 
as-long'astJie animal will- eat he feeds him ; and his ap- 
pt^rstxce ^iim^Vij honors^ and his grc«:efiil services re- 
fituiierate, the htimaiiity of his- master. A R^assian, in 
the ebuUitioit of^ passion, itiay da a ferocious thing, but 
never an ill-natm^e-d^ cm. No- b%in"g under l>eiiTet5 suf-' 
passes him in ths gaiety of the heart. His little nation- 
al' son g^ cheers htm wherever he goes. Where a Ger- 
man would- smoke for Gomfort, the Russian sings. Tltem 
Is nisthin^ cold about him but his-vnntry clisnate ; ^vhen- 
&ver he speafc«, it is w^tli good-huraor and vivacity^ ac- 
companied b*y the most animated gestures ; and although 
I do not think: that the Graaes^ would at first pull caps 
jibouthim,- yet in- the dance, for spirit and agility, T 
would' matbh and* bjtck him ag;ainst any one of the 
most agile' sons of carelfessnesS' in the" C/iatri/is Eh/sL's.. ■ 
Itrhis religious notions, the Russian knows not the 'mean' 
ing ax bigotry, aiid what is better, of toleration. He mer- 
cifully thinks that every one will go to heaven, only that 
the Russians will h^ve the best'place. When these sim- 
ple ehiidi^n of Nature address each otiier, it is always by 
the affectionate names of my fftther, my mother, my bro-- 
ther, or my sister, acGording to the age aud sex of the 
'^ti.Yif. To these good qualities of- the heart let me axid 
the favorable and manly appearance of the Russians, I 
mean the proper Russian : durin'g my stay- in" theiir resi- 
dence I never saw one man that was either lame or de- 
formed, or vrho squinted^ and they are remarkable for the 
beauty of their teeth . Their dress is plain and simple* 
consi'stingGf a long coat of woolen cloth, reaching to the 
knees, and folding before, fastened round the middle by a 
^sh, into"^ which his thick leather g-lovss^are generally 
tucked, and frequently it holds his axe ; his drawers are 
of the same stuff vvith his coat, and his legs are usually 
covered with heavy boots, or swathed round v/ith banda- 
ges, for they scarcely ever wear stockings, a.nd for shoes 
he uses coarse saiidals made of cloth and the matted 
bark of linden or birch ; his hair is ahvays cropped : the 
dress of the common women did not appear to me to va- 
ry much from that of our ov/n females of the same de- 
gree ; it consisted of a tunic, generally of some shawy 

P 2 



174 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. IfJ 

color, ^vith the sleeves of the shift appearing. The milk- 
women iookeci very Avell in this dress ; and the manner 
in which they carry an ashen bow, from the ends of 
which are suspended little 'jars covered with matted 
birch bark, resting upon one shoulder, gives them an un- 
commonly graceful appearance. When the tradesmen's 
wives go out, they generally cover the top of their caps 
with a large rich silk handkerchief, which falls behind ;. 
this appeared to be a very favorite decoration. 

Prudence demands some little knowledge of a characr 
ter before we associate with it, and it is with great plea- 
sure that in this early stage I present the Russian. . 

What of good he has he owes to himself ; his foibles,, 
and they are few, originate elsewhere : he is the absolute 
slave af his lord, and ranks with the sod of his.domains ;• 
of a lord whose despotism is frequently itiore biting than 
the Siberian blast. Never illumined by education, bruis- 
ed with ignoble blows, the object and frequently the vic- 
tim of baroni^J rapacity, with a wide world before him, 
this oppressed child of nature is denied the common^ 
right of raising his shed where his condition may be 
ameliorated, fiermitted only to toil in a distant district un- 
der the protection of that disgraceful badge of vassalage, 
a certificate cf leave -^ and upon his return compellable to- 
lay the scanty fruits of his labor at the feet of his master ;- 
and finally, he is excluded from the common privilege, 
which nature has bestov/ed upon the birds of the air and, 
the beasts of the wilderness, of chusing his mate ; he 
must marry when and whom his master orders. Yet 
under all this pressure, enough to destroy the marveU 
lous elasticity of a Frenchman's mind, the Russian is. 
what I have depicted him. If the reader is not pleased- 
with the portrait, the painter is in fault.. 



Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ITS 



CHAPTER XH. 

Pedestrians^ how considered — The scaffolding of the neW' 
Kazan church — -Great ingenuity of common Russians — ♦ 
The market — The Knout — <Cruelty of the Empress 
KUzabeth — Punishment of txvo lovely females. 

AS I have described that focus af trade the Gostin- 
oi dvor, I must not omit to mention, that in the 
continuation of the Perspective towards the admiralty, an 
Englishman of the name of Owens carries on a prodi- 
gious trade, chiefly in English manufactures : his house, 
which is a very magnificent one, has twenty -five rooms 
en suite^ w^hich are filled with the most beautiful m-er- 
chandize ; each room is a separate shop,- and attended 
by persons who are solely attached to-it : the prome- 
nade, through magazines of music, of books, of jewels, 
of fashions, §cc. is very agreeable, and I believe perfect- 
ly novel. The respectable and enterprising proprietor 
.is said frequently to receive one thousand pounds ster- 
ling in one day ; it is the constant and crowded resort 
of all the fashion of Petersburg. 

In the streets I rarely ever saw a Russian above the 
lowest degree walking ; the very taylor bestrides his 
droshka to take measure of his customer, and even many 
of the oiiicers ride to the parade : this may arise from 
the great extent of the city, and the distance which one 
place is from, another. If a gentleman is seen on foot 
he is immediately considered to be an Englishman, who 
wishesr to examine the city ; protected by this considera- 
tion, and this alone, he is regarded with tokens of courte- 
sy, should a Russian noble of his acquaintance gallop 
by in his chariot and four. An Englishmeai is the only 
privileged foreigner who may, with safety to his own 
dignity, perambulate the streets, and investigate the 
buildings of Petersburg., 

As I walked do^.vn the Linden footpath of the Grand 
Perspective, I observed almost every passenger, with 
whatever hurry he seemed to be nioving, stop short be- 
fore a church on the right hand, a little below the shops, 



take off* his hat, bow, and touch his forehead, and either 
sideof his breast, and then proceed; This building was 
the church of the Mother of God, of Kazan, which, al- 
though an in ferit>r building, is^ in religious estimMion') 
the most considerable of the Greek church eSj^sn- account 
of its containing the figure of the^ Virgin. Upon all 
public occasions, the Emperor and court assist, with 
great splendor, in the celebration of divine v,^orship here. 
Behind it v/as a vast' pile 6f< scaffolding,^ raised for the 
purpose of erecting a magnificent metropolitan church-, 
in the room of the onewliich I have just named. This^ 
place of worship, when completed, will surpass in size 
and splendor every other building in the residetice ^ and^ 
if I may judge from the model, will be little inferior in 
magnitude and grandeur to our St. Paul's. The Em*^ 
peror has allotted an enormous sum for its completion r 
all the holy utensils are to be set with the richest 
diamonds; even the screen is to be studded with pre- 
cious stones-. The scaffolding of this colossal temple i§ 
stupendous, and most ingeniously designed and execut- 
ed, and would alone be sufiitient to prove the genius an-d 
indefatigable labor of the Russians. Most of the masons' 
and bricklayers who were engaged in raising the New 
Kazan, as- Well as those who are to be seen embellishing 
the city in other parts, are boors from the pro^dnc^s. 
The axe constitutes the eavpenter's boxl of tocfls*: with- 
that he performs all his work. No one can observe Avith^ 
v/hat admirable judgnient, perspicuity, and precision, 
these untutorefd rusticsw'ork, and what gra:cefui objects 
rise from their uncouth hands, without doing them- the 
justice to say, that they are not to be surpassed by the 
most refined people in' imitation and ingenuity: fram 
me they have drawn many a silent eulogium as I passed' 
throii2-h the streets. 

Whilst I was gazing upon the New Kazan^ the foun- 
dation of v/hicl'i, as well as the pedestals of the columns, 
are already raised, on a sudden ail the hats ileW off about 
me, in compliment to the Empress Dowager, and her 
lovely daughters the Grand Duchesses, who, with their 
attendants, were passing in two very .plain carriages of a 
dark olive color, drav»Ti each by four horses, with two 



GnAP. 12^] NOHTHERKSUSIMER. W 

footmen, behind, in liveries of the^oior of tbe earriages^ 
"ttdtli a red cape, large cocked hats, and military b©ot« : 
Mupon the pann^is were merely the letter E, and the 
black eagle. This august family^ like that of the sove- 
reign of England, but with less show, frequently ride 
about the city, and pay friendly visits. 

Strolling nearly to the end of the Perspective, I found 
Hiyself in the market -place, and saw lying near the great 
market^ scales, tiie apparatus to which delinquents are 
fastened, when they receive the punishment of the 
knout, that terrible scotirge which Peter the Great and 
the Empress Elissbeth-wcre perpetually raising over the 
heads of their subjects, but which the mercy of the 
present Emperor never, except for crimes of the deep- 
est dye, permits to be exercised with fatal violence. The 
last man who perished by it, broke into the cottage of a 
family consisting of five persons, in a dark night, and 
butchered every one of them with a pole-axe. An acjt 
of such wanton biirbarity, and so alien to the character 
of the Russian, did not fail to excite the highest sensa- 
tions of horror. After a fair trial, the murderer was 
twice knouted ; and, upon receiving his kist punish- 
ment, was, in the language of the Russian executioner, 
<-*■ finished" by receiving seveml strokes of the thong dex- 
terously applied to the loins, which were thus cut open : 
the miserable wretch was then raised, and the ligaments 
Ivhich united the nostrils were terribly lascerated by pin- 
cers ; but tills latter part of his punishment, as I vfas in- 
formed by a gentleman who was present, created no ad- 
ditional pang to the sufferer, for tlie last stroke of the 
scourge only fell upon a breathless body. When a 
criminal is going to receive the knout, he has a right, if 
he ehuses, to stop at a certain kabac, and drink an allow* 
ance of liquor at the expense of government. 

I question if the cruelty , of punishment is to be de- 
termined by the quantum of unnecessary agony which 
it causes, vvhether the iniiiclion of death by suspension is 
not almost as barbarous as the knout : sufTerei^s in the 
former mode have been seen to display, for eight and 
ten minutes, ail the appearances of the most horrible 
torment, There is no mode of putting a capital offeti* 



178 NpRTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 12. 

der to death so swift and decisive as decapitation. The 
scaffold, the preparation, the fatal stroke, the blood, are 
pregnant with exemplary and repulsive horror : the pang 
of the sufferer is instantaneous — ^all the substantial ends 
of justice are effected with all possible humanity. 

In Russia, ladies of rank have suffered the punish- 
ment of the knout : the Abbe Chappe D'Auteroche re- 
lates the circumstance of an execution of this nature 
which took place in the reign of the cruel Elizebeth. 
He states that Madame Lapookin, who was one of the 
loveliest w^omen belonging to tjhe court of that Empress, 
had been intimately connected v,4th a. foreign ambassa- 
dor who was concerned in a conspiracy against Eliza- 
beth, and, on this account, his fair companion was de- 
nounced as an accessary in his guilt, and condemned to 
undergo the knout : the truth was, Madame Lapookin had 
been indiscreet enough to mention some of the endless 
amours of her imperial mistress. The beautiful cul- 
prit mounted the scaffold in an elegant undress, which en- 
creased the beauty of her charais and the interest of her 
situation. Distinguished by the caplivation of her mind 
and person, she' had been the idol of the court, and 
wherever she moved, she was environed by admirers : 
she was now surrounded by executioners, upon whom 
she gazed with astonishment, and seemed to doubt that 
she was the object of such cruel preparations. One of 
tjie executioners pulled off" a cloak which covered her 
bosom, at which, like Charlotte Cordey as she was pre- 
paring for the guillotine, her modesty took alarm, she 
started back, turned pale, and burst into tears. Her 
clothes were soon stripped off, and she was naked to the 
waist, before the eager eyes of an immense concourse 
of people profoundly silent. One of the executioners 
then took her by both hands, and turning half round, 
raised her on his back, inclining forwards, lifting her 
a little from the ground ; upon which the other execu- 
tioner laid hold of her delicate limbs with his rough 
hands, adjusted her on the back of his coadjutor, and 
placed her in the properest posture for receiving the 
punishment. He then retreated a few steps, measuring 
the proper distance with a steady eye, and leaping back- 



Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 179 

wards, gave a stroke with the whip, so as to carry away 
5. slip of skin from the neck to the bottom of her back ; 
then striking his feet against the ground, he made a 
second blow parallel to the former, and in a few miinutes 
all the skin of the back was cut away in small slips, 
most of which remained hanging to her chemise : her 
tongue was cut out immediately after, and she was ban- 
ished to Siberia. 

., It is impossible to reflect upon this savage scene, in 
which the Empress betrayed all the qualities of a ruth- 
less barbarian, without equal horror and indignation. 
History represents Elizabeth as the most indolent, vo- 
luptuous, and sensual of her sex, which her portraits 
fully confirm. An anecdote is related of her, which 
proves, if any thing further were wanting, that she was 
a total stranger to feeling. One of her ladies in waiting, 
who was far advanced in years, and labored under a 
great weakness in her legs, one day very nearly fainted 
in the presence of the Empress from the fatigue of 
standing. Elizabeth observing her situation, enquired 
the cause ; and, upon being informed, she coolly re- 
plied : " Oh, is it so ? then lean a little against those 
" dravv^ers, and I will 7nake believe that I don't see you." 

The late Empress Catherine exercised her vengeance 
upon a similar occasion with more lenity, but in a very 
mortifying manner. A lovely young woman, who had 
married the Count M , one of her discarded favor- 
ites, obtained from her husband some singular particu- 
lars respectmg his intimacy with the Emxpress, which 
she very injudiciously related to some of her female 
friends at Moscow, where she resided. Not long after, 
just as the lady and her husband were resigning them- 
selves to sleep, they were awakened by a loud knocking 
at the door of their chamber, which the husband unbolt- 
ed, when a stout police officer entered with alarge rod in 
one hand, and an imperial order in the other. The hus- 
band was commanded to kneel on one side of the bed, 
and make no resistance or noise, as in the next room 
there were several brethren of this summary minister 
of justice in waiting. The lady was ordered, just as 
she was, to descend from the bed, and lay herself upon 



im NaRTHERN SUMMER. [Chap.1^ 

the fioeF ; tbe officer ^:hett tied hfer - hafEds- aad fe et, attd 
g^ve her a scyefe whipping : whea h^e hadr finished the 
discipline, he loosened her, raised her up, and said, 
*' This is the punishment which the Empress inflicts 
" upon tattlers ; the next time you go to Siberia." The 
story was soon buzzed abroad, and the poor young fedy 
could not appear for some time after in Moscow without 
exciting a titter. 

In her pleasures^ Catherine only reflected upon the un- 
bridled indulgences of the sovereigns of the opposite 
sex, which she cherished as precedents of indisputable 
authority. As an Ejn^ress,^ she considered herself above 
those restraints with which the protective code of society 
has environed the delicacy and chastity of women, the 
brigl>t lustre of which cannot be breathed upon without 
being sullied. It is not likely that I, who belong to a 
country which female modesty has selected for her fa- 
Torite residence, and in the diadem of which she has 
fixed her v hitest plume, should advocate the licentious- 
ness of Catherine ; yet it is but justice to her memory 
to say, that she endeavored to conceal her faulty plear 
sures under a surface of refinement ; that she punished, 
with efficacious severity, every inclination to depravity 
in her court ; and that she labored only to make the 
better parts of her character exemplary. 

The present Empress Dowager, though past the me* 
ridian of beauty, exhibits very powerful traces of her 
having been one of nature's favorites; Her complexion 
is veiy fine, her face full, her eyes of hazel color, sweet 
and expressive ; her person somewhat corpulent, but 
very majestic. Her manners are in a peculiar degree 
soft, benign, and captivating. She devotes herself to the 
education of the younger branches of her august fkmily, 
to the superintendence and encouragement of benevo- 
lent institutions, and to a very tasteful cultivation of the 
arts. One of her pursuits is somewhat singulatr ; she 
is an excellent medalist. I have seen some of her v/orks 
in this elegant branch of art, as well as some of her 
chasing in gold, which would do honor to any artist. 
Her needle-work is also very beautiful, and must be ad- 



Chaf. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1$1 

inirecl even by those who haA^^e beheld the exquisite per- 
formances of a Linwood. 

. The present Emperor Alexander is about twenty -nine 
years of age, his face is full, very fair, and his complex- 
ion pale ; his eyes blue, and expressive of that beneficent 
niiidness which is one of the prominent features of his 
character. His person is tall, lusty, and well propor- 
tioned ; but, being a little deaf, to facilitate his hearing, 
he stoops : his deportm.ent is condescending, yet digni- 
fied. In the discharge of his august duties he displays 
great activity and acuteness, but without shew and bus- 
tle : the leading features of bis mind are sound discre* 
tion and humanity, qualities which cannot fail to render 
an empire flourishing and a people happy ! He is so 
much an enemy to parade, that he is frequently seen 
wrapped up in hisregimental cloak, riding about the cap- 
lial alone, upon a little common di oshka : in this man- 
ner he has been known to administer to the wants of the 
poor. It is his wish, if he should be recognized in this 
state of privacy, that no one will take off their hats ; but 
the graciousness of his desire only puts the heart in the 
hand as it uncovers the head. I have many times seen 
him in a chariot, perfectly plain, of a dark olive, drawn 
t>y four horses, driven by a bearded coachman, a com- 
mon little postillion, and attended by a single footman. 
Soldiers are always upon the look out for him, to give 
timely notice to the guard of his approach ; without this 
precaution it would be impossible, amidst the crowd of 
carriages which is to be seen in the residence, to pay him. 
the honors due to his rank. The Emperor is very much 
attached to the English, numbers of whom have settled 
in the empire, and have formed, under the auspices of 
the government, a sort of colony. The Emperor has 
often been heard to say that " The man within whose 
" reach heaven has placed the greatest materials for ma- 
" king life happy, was, in his opinion, an English coun- 
^^ try Gentleman.'^ 

Although the Emperor has never visited Englar^l, he 
13 perfectly acquainted with its character and manners, 
as he is with its language. A very amiable and respecta- 
ble English gentleman, Mr. G. of the treasury, was, bv 

Q 



182 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 12. 

the wish of Catherine, brought up with him, and was 
the play -mate and associate of his early years. The in- 
cidents of boyish days, so dear to every feeling and gen- 
erous mind, left their accustomed impressions upon the 
heart of Alexander ; and though time placed him at an 
immeasurable distance from his early companion, he has 
never ceased to honor him with the most gracious re- 
gard ; in the display of which he exhibited the Emperor 
only' in the munificent proofs of his friendship. I heard 
another instance of the strong partiality of Alexander 
for England. When an English gentleman, who, a short 
time before the death of Paul, had frequently played du- 
ets upon the flute with the Grand Duke, v^as preparing 
to quit the empire for his own country, in consequence 
of the sudden antipathy which the former had taken to 
our countrymen ; after the close of the last piece they 
ever performed together, Alexander thus feelingly apos- 
trophized the flute of his friendly musician, as he held 
it in his hand : " Adieu, sweet instrument ! you have 
'' charmed away many an hour of care ; often and deep- 
" ly shall I regret the absence of your enchanting 
" sounds ; but you are going to breathe them in the best 
" and happiest counlry in the world." These are trifling 
anecdotes to record, but they conduct the reader to the 
heart. 

*< Man is most natural in little things." 

How nmch and how justly, the Emperor is bfeloved' 
by his people, will occasionally appear as I proceed. 
The Russians, who have had so many foreign princes to 
govern them, behold with enthusiastic fondness an Em- 
peror born in Russia. The face of the reigning Empress 
is very sweet and expressive ; her person is slight, but 
very elegant, and of tlie usual height of her sex ; she 
is remarkably amiable, and diffident, even to shyness. 
Her mind is highly cultivated, and her manners soft, 
gracious, and fascinating. Her sister, the Queen of 
Sv/eden, if there be any fidelity in the chisel of Sergeli, 
must be a model of female beauty. The .Emperor and 
Smpress have no family. They were united at "sn ex- 



Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 183 

traordinary early age, fro-m a wish of Catherme to can- 
template as many of her posterity, who were .destined 'to 
succeed to the throne, as she could before slie died. The 
two Grand Duchesses, who are grown up? do honor ;to 
the care of their Imperial mother, and excite the attach- 
ment and admiration of all who approach them. The 
youngest of the two was married to the prince of Sai^ 
Weimar, during my stay in Petersburg ; and as the 
ceremony of their nuptial will illustrate the nKinners ^nd 
customs of the R.ussians, I shall hereafeer give a -bi^ef 
description of it. 

From the place of execution in the market place, I 
made my way to the Monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky, 
at the very extremity of the eastern part of the city. In 
the street were several carts standing, Med with pea^e 
in pod, with their roots just as v/hen they were poilled 
up from the garden, and with their stalks, which the 
poor people bought, sonfietimes for themselves, ai>d 
sometimes for their horses ; to both, the vegetable, wbiqii 
v/as eaten shell and stalk together, appeared a dainty. 
The -monastery occupies a vast space of . gcoimd. is 
moated round, and eontams a magjiihcent church, sur- 
mounted by a vast copper dome, a'chapel, the cells, re- 
fectories, and dormitories for sixty monks, a seminary, 
and the residence of the metropolitan archbishop. The 
front of the basement of the buildings, which are all 
connected together, is painted of a deep crimBon color, 
and, from the immense quantity and size ©f the windows, 
resembles a collection of colossal hot-^houseo. 

In the church, which is very elegant, I saw the shrine 
of St. Alexander Nevsky, the tutelar saint of Russia, 
formerly one of its sovereigns, who was raised to that 
disting^uished honor, in consequence of his having most 
gallantly repulsed the Swedes, or Finns, some centviries 
since, on the banks of the Neva. The monument, and 
military trophies which adorn it, as well as the pillars 
and canopy under w^hich it stands, are of wrought massy 
silver, made from theiirst ore of that metal ever discov- 
ered in Russia. One of the columns, v/hich forms the 
hack of the space allotted for the Imperial family, is a 
whole length portrait of the late Empress, well executed- 



184 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1% 

The altar, screen, and decorations, are very superb 

There are cloisters round the whole of the buildings, 
formed almost entirely of double windows, by which in 
winter every house in Russia, of the least respectability,, 
is protected against the terrible severity of the cold : the 
joists, and all other avenues of air, being either covered 
with pasted paper or felt. Every part of the monastery 
appeared to be very neat and clean, and the mansion of 
the archbishop handsome. The chanting of some line 
deep-toned voices attracted me to the chapel, where the 
monks, assisted by the priest, were at their devotion. 
The dress of the former is singularly gloomy ; on their 
heads they wore a high hat, covered with black crape 
flowing dov/n the back : the habit, which fell below the 
ancles, -was black cloth lined with a soir^bre dark blue 
stuff, their beards were of a great length, and each monk 
carried a rosary of brown or black beads. As I was re-^ 
turning, several beautiful monuments in the church-yard 
attracted my steps ; they appeared to be constructed and 
arranged as in England. While engaged in examining 
them, an elderly lady, in deep mourning, apparently 
about sixty years of age, with a pale but dignified face, 
leaning upon the arm of a graceful youth, clad in the 
same suit of sorrow, slowly passed by mte, and at some 
distance stopped before a small but elegant tomb, which, 
from its unsullied whiteness, had the appearance of ha- 
>ingbeen but very lately erected. I noticed them unob- 
served. They stood under the sliade of a wide spread- 
ing silver birch', and turning towards the church of the 
monastery, the youth pulled off his hat, and they both 
prostrated and crossed themselves, according to the 
forms of the Greek faith ; the female then, clasping her 
hands, dropped her head upon the pedestal of the monu- 
ment, and appeared to be lo3t in profound and aifecting 
meditation. The yovmg man knelt by her side, and if I 
mistook not the cause which moved his hand, he wept. 
Some minutes elapsed, they then arose, tenderly survey- 
ing the spot, ascended the hillock of grass, and kissed a 
little marble urn, which surmounted the monument. 
My conjecture enclosed in it the heart of sonae long-loved 
}iusband and father. They then withdrew in the same 



CiiAP. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 185 



s 



-ad, solemn, and impressive manner, with which they 
entered, and I approached the object of their melancholy 
regard. The pedestal winch supported the urn was eni- 
bellished with two medallions ; one represented Resig- 
nation, with the face of a beautiful female, upon which 
the most angelic sweetness appeared to triumph over 
languor and pain ; the other depicted Hope, modestly, 
yet ardently looking to heaven. There was a small in- 
scription between the two heads, in Russ, and underneath, 
the figures, 1804. The Russians, like wise people, al- 
ways bury their dead in the suburbs. The late Empress 
never permitted burials in the day ; she thought, with 
sQ'me reference to the popular prejudice, that the gloom 
of the spectacle ought to be confined, as much as possi- 
ble, to the relatives of the deceased ; and I should sup- 
pose that her ukase, regulating this awful ceremony, 
still continues, for I never saw a funeral during my stay 
in Russia. 

The reader will, I am sure; be pleased with the beauty 
and pathos of the following stanzas, which form a part of 
the hymn recited over the body previous to its inhuma- 
tion. < 

" Oh, what is life ? a blossom ! a vapor or dew of 
'' the inorning ! Approach and contemplate the grave. 
" Where now is the graceful form ! where is youth ! 
" where the organs of sight 1 and where the beauty of 
" complexion 1 

" What lamentation, and wailing, and mourning, and 
" struggling, when tiie soul is separated from the body I 
" Human life seems altogether vanity ; a transient 
" shadow ; the slef^Ji of error ; the unavailing labor of 
*' imagined existence. Let us therefore fly from ^Yitrx 
'• corruption of the world, that we may inherit the king- 
*' dom of heaven." 

" Thou Mother of the sun that never sets ; Parent of 
" God, we beseech thee intercede with thy divine 
" offspring, that he who hath departed hence, may enjoy 
" repose with the souls of the just. Unblemished Vir- 
" gin ! may he enjoy the eternal inheritance of heaven 
*' in the abodes of the righteous." 

Q 2 



CttAP. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 166 

The superstition of the Russians is very great. Upen 
the ceremony of tdessing the waters in the winter, v/hen 
a large hole is perforated in the Neva, a woman suppli- 
cated a priest to immerse her newborn child ; the priest 
consented, but in dipping the miserable little sufferer, 
his fingers were so benumbed, that he iiTecoverably 
dropped it under the ice ; the pr.rent, with a smile of de- 
light) exclaimed, " He is gone to heaven." 

In one of the churches I saw a woman doing penance 
for the following crime : She had not long been mari'jed 
before she polluted the bed. of her husband, whom sh^e 
used to keep in an almost constant state of intoxication. 
One day, whilst «he v^as indulging herself in ker adul- 
terous attachment, her hvisband unexpectedly appeared 
perfectly sober : stung with jealousy by what he saw, he 
sprang upon his guilty rival, and v.ith a knife stabbed 
him to the heart. The laws of England would have pro- 
tected the miserable man, but by those of Russia he was 
knouted and sent to Siberia ; and his wife who was- the 
authoress of this bloody tragedy, was ordered by her 
priest to prostrate herself six hundred times a day foi* 
two years before the Virgin. Her conscience and h&r 
bigotry enforced punctual observance of the prescribed 
mortifications. By the Russian laws, if the husband is 
of a tyrannical and violent temper, a -w^oman may com- 
mit adultery with impunity. 

The Russians are fanatically attached to the very 
stone, brick- wood, and plaster, of their churches : they 
have a remark that whilst the Russians build their 
churches first and their towns aftenvards' the English 
never think of a temple until they have erected their own 
dwellings. 

It is somewhat singular, that with all their religicus 
enthusiasm, the Russians pay their priests naore misera- 
bly than we do cur curates; but periiaps it may be 
traced to the extreme ignorance of the former. After 
wealth and birth, knowledge awakens respect, and per- 
haps the Russian populace would revolt at the idea of 
making their ministers independent before their minds 
wese cultivated : to their saints they would devote their 
liver ; to tlieir priests they^give black bread. 



Chat. 12.] -NORTHERN SUMMER. JW 

T^'^^ the Oreek faith admits of confession, the follow- 
iirg anecdote will prov^ : A priest came to hear the con- 
fession of a great nman : " Holy father," says the Comit, 
" Ivave you a good memory ?'* " Yes." " Then you re- 
" member v/h at I told you at my last confession ; since 
<'tiiatl have h^.d the same temptations from without ; 
*' the same weaknesses from within ; and here is the 
*' same number of rubles." 

Another reason was now assi<^ned for Paui*s having- 
introduced the magpie color which I have before men- 
tioned : it w^as that the soldiers, raw recruits, and boors, 
i;mployed for government, miight the more readily dis- 
ting-uish the buildings which belonged to it. 

As I crossed the draw-bridge of the Ligova canal, the 
latter appeared to be almost choaked with barks of a pro* 
digious length filled with billets of birch -wood, for the 
immediate use of the kitchen, and for a winter-stock of 
fuel; this and the rent of houses, a.nd necessaiy equi» 
pages, and bread, constitute the most expensive part of 
house-keeping in Petersburg, which in most other res- 
pects is moderate. These vessels, in which not only 
wood but charcoal is brought from the shores of the 
nearest rivers, or of the Ladoga lake, never return, but 
are broken up and sold, for building houses for the poor, 
or for fuel. These barks, unavoidably necessar)^, sadly 
disfigure the beautiful canals which form the pride and 
comfort of this capital ; and here, as upon the sides of 
the Seine, the washerwoman are the principal water 
npnphs. Most of the canals are finely embanked with 
granite, and have a rich iron railing running on each 
side. The Fontanka Canal is eminently beautiful. 
These intersections of water assimilate Petersburo: in 
some degree to Venice. As I returned through the 
Grand Perspective, I took a peep at that part of it which 
is called the Yuemnkm^ answering to the Long Acre of 
London, where there is a long row of carriage builders* 
shops ; here are droshkaes, calashkies, chariot-s, sledges, 
and all sorts of carriages, many of them veiy neat, some 
of them very heavy, but none very lasting ; yet there is 
no knavei'y ; those who build them use the best materi- 
als the country ->¥ill aSbrd, and in shape -and fashion^' 



188 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1'^. 

v/here the carriage will admit of it, they imitate us very 
closely, aPxd a stranger may buy a very com.fortable ca-- 
laslika for about five hundred rubles, for which, a little 
-more elegantly and substantially made, if caiashkjes and 
rubles ran in England, he would at least pay one thou- 
sand of the latter. This depot, or the yards of the 
coachmakers, amongst whom there is an English one, in 
the second line of the Galeernhoff, are the best places for 
a foreigner to purchase a carriage when he is about to 
quit Russia. 

As I walked along I observed, on each side of the 
street, several stands, each attended by a reverend look- 
ing long-bearded Russian, v/ith piroghi, or little pies fill- 
ed with meat, next to which were eggs, and salted cu- 
cumbers, of which the Russians are particularly fond, 
and in a third were pvramids of berries, much resemblins- 
a mulberry in shape, but of a light yellowish color, call- 
ed the marosbki ; the cramberry, called the glukoi ; \dld 
straw berries, whortle berries, and cloud berries, said to 
be excellent antiscorbutics. I cannot say much of the 
attractive cleanliness and delicacy of the fiatissier, but a 
Russian stomach is not squeamish ; and for a very few 
copecs it may be, in the estimation of its ov/ner, substan- 
tially and completely filled. The fasts of the Russians 
are very frequent, and very rigidly observed. 

As a fast in England always reminds me of a feast, I 
will just give a brief sketch of a Russian dinner, which 
is seldom later than three o'clock : upon a side-board 
in the drawing-room is always placed a table filled with 
fish, meats, and sausages salted, pickled, and smoked, 
bread and butter, and liqueurs ; these airy nothings arc 
mere running footmen of the dinner, which is in the 
following order : a cold dish, generally of sturgeon or 
some other fish, precedes, followed by soup, a num* 
ber of miade dishes, a profusion of roast and boiled meats, 
amongst which the Ukraine beef is distinguisable, and 
abundance of excellent vegetables ; then pastry, and a 
desert of very fine melons, and sour flavorless wall fruit : 
the table is covered with a variety of wines, and excellent 
ale and beer. The master of the house or a cook 
carves, and slices of every dish are handed round to the 



Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1S9 

guests. One of the most gratifying* things that I al^ 
ways saw upon the table, was a large vase of ice broken 
into small pieces, with which the giiest cools his wine 
and beer. In the yard every Russian house has two 
large cellars, one warm for winter, and the other filled 
with ice for the summer. The soup, and coffee, and 
chocolate are frequently iced. One day at dinner, I sat 
by a lovely Russian lady, that is, born in Russia but of 
German parents : the explanation will save me a re- 
mark embarrassing to gallantry, and which I wish to 
avoid, respecting the beauty of the firoper Russian 
v/omen, at least of those whom I sav/. This accom- 
plished woman, in my own language as pure as ever it 
fell from English lady's lips, requested some salt ; upoa 
my presenting it she said, ••' Whenever you give salt, 
"' never fail to smile ; it is a superstitious custom in 
'»' Russia.'* A sinile is in this country considered as a 
charm against /2ozso72. Heavens 1 surely they have not 
yet to learn that 

*' A man may smile, may smile, and be a viiliaa." 

They have a beautiful proverbial expression : ' 

'« Banter, but never make the cheek red."^ 

Nature has less to do v/ith climate than library gossips 
suppose, at least I thought so vviien I committed the 
following blunder : " You never saw my Sophiaka be- 

■fore," said Madaime L , pcinting to a fine little girl 

at table, about ten years of age ; ''She is your daughter y 
'• I presume ?'* '- Mtidame L 's daughter T' exclaim- 
ed a geniiieman, " surely that cannot be, she is more 
''. like your 6r,7^fr." The fact was, the child was nei- 
ther daughter nor sister, but a little visitor. The result 
v/as, that the piincipal part of Madame L——'s enchanting 
ct>nver3ation during diimer was withdrawn from me, and 
addressed to the gentleman ■ whose error was the most 
fortunate. Afier a fev/ glasses of delicious wines, 
champagne included, the Lidy rises, and the company 
retires to coffee in the drawing-room. 1" he rooms of 
.j'JLispcclable houses ai^e never papered, but where the 



im NORimERN SUMMER. IChap. 12. 

.sides are not covered with silk or cotton, they are colored 
in a brilliant and beautiful manner to resemble papering. 
In this act the natives are uncommonly tasteful and 
i-apid. 

The hospitality of this place cannot be surpassed t 
When a stranger is introduced, the family mention the 
^ays of the week when they receive their friends, and 
expect that he ^vill include himself in the number : the 
invitation is frank ^nd cordiei, and is seldom repeated ; 
where it is understood there is no occasion for it. The 
frippery and formality of forced, and frequently treach- 
erous ceremony, is not known here. 

At the back of the Gastinnci dvcr are the fruit, bird, 
tind poultry markets, in a street of wooden sheds like 
those at a fair in England. Apples, pears, rasberries, 
currants, peaches, excellent melons and pine apples, are 
temptingly presented to the eye, and are all intolerably 
dear, even when you are permitted to buy for half the 
price at first demanded, for the custom of asking double 
the sum intended to be taken prevails in all this neigh- 
borhood ; but as it is w^U known, it seldom answers. In 
the bird quarter were pigeons, sparrows, liawks, birds of 
the rock, and a few others, in greater numbers than va- 
riety : upon a beam in this place was suspended the 
image of a favorite Saint, with a lamp burning before 
rlmr. In the poultiy department very fine geese, ducks, 
and fowls were in great abundance. The bank next at- 
tracted my attention : it is a large and very beautiful 
building of brick stuccoed, containing a centre and two 
wdngs, and adorned in front by a very handsome and 
elegant iron-railing. The whole of this neighborhood is 
filled with kabacs and public -houses, v/here dinners are 
dressed, and beer, and mead, and brandy sold. 

At the end of the Gand Perspective, the church of 
the Admiralty, with its lofty spire, plated with ducat 
geld, having a vein in the form of a ship, presents itself, 
and, like a haughty female, ashamed in her proud attire 
of her mean origin and humble relations, seems scorn- 
•fully to lift herself above the long gloomy line of low 
brick buildings which, with the yards behind, constitute 
the Admiralty, and disfigure this part gi the capital* 



/ 



CffAK 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER: 13^ 

Time has proved that Peter the Great acted wisely in 
chusing the situation for his eity. The shallowness of 
the Neva presents an insuperable barrier to the fleets of 
Sweden, and a noble river, so clear that it is drank with- 
out filtration, divides and enriches the quarters of the 
city with the beauty and purity of its waters : but, with 
the powerful facilities of building ships at Gronstadt, a 
>arge impregnable island at the mouth of the Neva, in 
the gulf of Finland, and the grand naval arsenal of 
Russia, I must confess, in my poor opinion, he has not 
been equally judicious in establishing an Admiralty at 
Petersburg. So little is the depth of water at the latter 
place, that whenever a ship of war is launched, she is 
obliged to be floated down to Crcnstadt upon camels. Of 
the trouble and expense of such a removal let the reader 
judge, when I inform him that I saw this stupendous 
machinery mounted upon thousands of wedges of wood, 
in a meadow, about half a mile from any water in which 
they could be floated. My astonishment could not have 
been exceeded, had I beheld a first rate seventy-four up- 
on the top of St. James's palace 1 Suppose the clear 
shell of a larger ship than ever yet was built were cut in 
two, and each part put into an outer case, but at such a 
distance from it as to lieave throughout a hollow space of 
from eight to ten feet : such was the appearance of the 
camels. But how they are removed from the place 
where they lie in ordinary, supposing any number of 
men were employed, surpasses my imagination ; hov,^- 
ever, like every thing else in Russia, when they are 
tranted they make their appearance, and come when 
they are called to the Admiralty, where each takes its 
station on either side of the ship which they are destined 
to carry to Cronstadt. By the means of vast moveable 
weights, and by opening several apertures in^Jie exter- 
nal sides of this mighty section of a ship to admit the 
water, they are sunk, drawn close together under the 
curve of the ship, and braced v/ith cables ; a work fit for 
a race of giants ! To see them moved and directed by 
men, must present the image of the recumbent body of 
Gulliver covered with Lilliputians. But v/hilst the 
fram,e of man becomes diminutive by the side of his 



1"^ NORTHERN SUMMER, [Chap. 12« 

own works, bis soul expands, and rises with his labors. 
The Admiralty is a vast oblong square : the side to\\ ards 
the river is open, and far from being ornamental to the 
adjoining palaces : that toward the city is defended by 
earthen ramparts, fortined with cannon, and secured by 
draw-bridges. The store-houses appeared to be well ar- 
ranged : there were two ships, one of seventy-four and 
the other of sixty guns, ready for launching. An Eng- 
lishiTis,n cannot fail being struck with the prodigious 
waste which occurs in the dock -yards, in consequence of 
the carpenters using their hatchets instead of the saw in 
dividing timber. The chips form, the perquisite of the 
workmen ; but the government would save an immense 
quantity of valuable timber •* ould it give an equivalent, 
and insist upon the use o2 the saw. In the naval con- 
stitution of Russia there is a regulation which cries alou<l 
for reform ; it is balloting for rank, and the right of 
black-balling ; term.s which sufficiently explain the na- 
ture and abuses of an arrangement so degrading and odious 
to meiit, and detrimental to the service. It appears al- 
so injudicious to send a young marine cadet to England 
to learn navigation, upon a salary of from one hundred 
and eighty to tvvo hundred pounds per annum, or per- 
haps to send him at all. Struck with new customs and 
fashions, he neglects his pursuits, establishes habits of 
expense, and returns with dissatisfaction to his country 
upon a pay of twenty-five pounds per annum. 

There are several English officers in the service of 
the Emperor. The late Sovereign made overtures to 
the celebrated Paul Jones to take the com^mand of one 
of his ships ; as soon as it was known to the British offi- 
cers, they immediately sent in their resignation. The 
intermixture of so many English subjects in the naval 
and commercial departments of Russia, so essential to 
their advancement, and consequently to the general in- 
terests of the empire, must ever preserve a favorable dis- 
position in that country towards the British nation. 



CHAf. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 193 



CHAPTER XIH. 

^ caution— -The house of Peter the Great'— -Singular anec- 
dote — Police 4 traveller's duty 4n extraordinary 

fiurgation 4 British court of criminal law — JVoisy bells 

—'Fruiterer — 'Ice-— 'The sorrowful musician— Drollery 
and drunkenness— 'Imperial theatre — JVor them grandees, 

I WAS much inconvemenced by shipping a trunk con- 
taining books and wearing apparel at Stockholm for 
Petersburg, which, I was assured would be there as soon, 
as I should, yet it never arrived till just before m:y depar- 
ture. Let me recommend every traveller to avoid this 
mode of conveyance, net merely for the uncertainty which 
always attends a Swedish bye-boat during such a voyage, 
but on account of the difficulty of obtaining possession of 
property so sent after it reaches the custom-house at Pe- 
tersburg. If it should contain books, they must be sub- 
mitted to a censor, and the owner must pay a duty of 
thirty pounds per cent, ad valorem upon the things. 
Whilst I was at Petersburg, a book called the Secret Me- 
moirs of the Court of Petersburg was prohibited. The 
author was a French emigrant, and had been cherished 
hy that court whose secret intrigues he had ungratefully 
exaggerated to the world. This man, a short time since, 
had the audacity to request permission of the Emperor 
to return to Petersburg, which he had quitted some time 
before. The Emperor, with his accustomed sound sense 
and liberality, sent him word, " That his dominions were 
'' open to every body, but he was not so much his enemy 
" as to recom.mend his entering them." 

The house, or rather cottage, in which Peter the 
Great resided during the foundation olt Petersburg, a 
city which is the grov/th of little more than a century, 
stands on the left of the Emperor's bridge in the road to 
the fortress. This little building, so si/.red to the Rus- 
sians, was covered over with a brick building of arcades 
by the late Empress, to protect and support it against the 
ravages of time. The rooms are three, all upon the 
ground floor, and very low : it was in this very cottage 

R 



194 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. 

that a whimsical scene occurred whilst the fortress was 
building. A Dutch skipper, hearing that Petersburg 
was building, and that the Emperor had a great passion 
for ships and commerce, resolved to try his good fortune 
there, and accordingly arrived with the first merchant 
vessel that ever sailed upon the Neva, and was the bearer 
of a letter of introduction to the captain of the port from 
a friend of his in Holland, requesting him to use bis intC" 
rest to procure a freight for him, Peter the Great was 
working like a comtnon laborer in the Admiralty as tlie 
galliot passed, and saluted with two or three small guns. 
The Emperor was uncommonly delighted, and having 
l)een informed of the Dutchman'sbusiness,he resolved tq 
have some frolic with him, and accordingly commanded 
the port captain to see the skipper, as soon as he landed, 
and direct him to the Emperor, as a merchant just settled 
there, whom he intended to personate ; the better to car- 
ry on the joke, Peter repaired to this cottage with his 
Empress, who, to humor the plan, dressed hei^seif in a 
plain bourgeois habit, such as suited the wife of a mer- 
chant. The Dutchman was introduced to the Emperor, 
who received him with great kindness, and they sat and 
ate bread and cheese, and smoked together for some 
time, during which the Dutchm.an's eye examined the 
room, and began to think that no one who lived in so 
mean a place, could be of any service to him : presently 
the Empress entered, when the skipper addressed her, 
by observing that he had brought her a cheese, a much 
better one than she had ever tasted, for vf hich, affecting 
an awkward manner, she thanked him. Being much 
pleased with her appearance, he took from his coat a 
piece of linen, and begged her acceptance of it for shifts. 
t* Oh I" exclaimed the Emperor, taking the pipe from 
his mouth, " Kate, you will now be as fine and as proud 
" as an empress 1 there, you are a lucky woman, you ne- 
" ver had such shifts as you will now have, in your life 
<« before." This-^vas followed by the stranger begging t© 
have a kiss, which she coyly indulged him in. At this 
moment Prince Menzikof, the favorite and minister of 
Peter the Great, who represented him upon matters of 
state, entered with all his orders, and stood before the 



Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 195 

Emperor uncovered. The skipper began to stare with 
amazement, whilst Peter, by winking ai>d making private 
signs, induced the Prince immediately to relii-e. The 
astonished Dutchman said, " Why you appear to have 
« great acquaintance here ?" " Yes," replied Peter, « andL. 
*' so may you, if you stay here but ten days : there are 
" plenty of such needy noblemen as the one you saw, 
" they are always in debt, and very glad to borrow money 
" of any one, and they have even found out me ; but, sir, 
" bev/are of these fellows, resist their importunity, how- 
" ever flatteringj and do not be dazzled by their stars and 
" garters, and such trumpery." This explanatory 
advice put the stranger a little more at his ease, who 
drank and smoked on very cheerfully, and made his 
barg-ain with the Imperial Merchant for a cargo ; just as 
he had settled this point to hi^ wi-sh, the officer of the 
guard, which had been changed, entei'ed to receive ms 
orders, and stood v>^ith profound respect uncovered, and 
before Peter could stop him, addressed him by the title 
of Imperial Majesty. The Dutchman sprang from his 
chair, fell on his knees before the Emperor and Empress, 
and implored forgiveness for the liberties he had been 
taking. Peter enjoyed the scene, and laughing heariiiy, 
raised up the terrified suppliant, and made him kiss the 
Empress' hand, presented him with fifteen hundred ru- 
bies, gave him a freight, and ordered that his v-essel, as 
long as her timbers remained together, should be pennit- 
ted to enter all the Russian ports free of duty. This pri- 
vilege made the rapid fortune of the owner. A friend of 
mine frequently sav/ her, some years since, at Crcnstadt. 
Gn the right hand side of the cottage is a boat, buiit by 
the hands of Peter the Great. It resembles a large 
Thames wherry, and does honor to the skill of the prhice' 
ly boat -bulkier. As I sat in the carriage, y*i>iting for 
some of ray companions, I made a sketch of the house, 
l)oat, a droshka, and a groupe of Russians and an Ame- 
rican, who were there. Upon our return the evening was 
advanced, and the night-watch was set ; we met the po- 
lice master mounted upon a droshka, drawn by two hor- 
ses in full gallop, fallowed by two of the police on horse- 
back, dressed in H^bt green, and armed with sabres ; 



196 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13^. 

they were going their rounds through the city, to see that 
order was preserved, and that the nocturnal guards, 
amounting to five hundred, were at their respective posts. 
Soon after, we met with a patroling troop of Cossacs on 
liorseback. In no city is there greater safety and tran- 
quillity preserved than at Petersburg, which for this pur- 
pose is divided into ten departments, and these divided 
into several smaller parts, each of which has its proper 
chief and subordinate officers, who by a very simple or- 
ganization, preserve the capital, at all hours of the night, 
in a state of quiet and seciuity, that cannot fail to excite 
the admiration of foreigners, and particularly of English- 
men. Those detestable agents of government, spies, 
have no existence in Petersburg ; without their baneful 
assistance, the police is so admirably and powerfully ex- 
tended, that, like a spider's web, whatever comes in con- 
tact with it, is felt from the centre to the extremities. 
The commanding officers of the police do not rank with 
the officers of the army, nor are ihey received with much 
respect in society. 

1 one evening saw an instance of severity which cur- 
prised and disgusted me, but probably it was intended to- 
strike terror, and to abbreviate the labor of the police, 
by commanding an instanta.neous submission to its funct- 
ionaries. A quarrel had taken place between two men 
in the street through which I \y?j5 passing, and before 
the third exchange of imprecations, two of the police 
appeared, and ordered these disturbers of the peace 
to walk before them to the nearest sieja, or little watch- 
house but one of them refused to go, upon which an 
officer drew his sabre, and cut him in the face ; the 
man, like a true Russian, more affected at the sight of the 
blood, than by the pain of the wound, submitted himself 
to the law, and marched off without further delay. 

It would be well for the safety and tranquillity of the 
inhabitants of London, and more particularly of its im- 
mediate neighborhood, if its police were more extended^ 
gvjift^rA potverful. In this respect we are assuredly in- 
ferior to most nations. I am aware that arbitrary gov- 
ernments have, hitherto, displayed the most perfect sys- 
tems of police ; but is this the reason why the genius and 



Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 197 

constitution of a free one cannot admit of its extending 
domestic protection to its subjects ? Is civil liberty in- 
compatible with preventive policy ? Is the freedom of 
the country gone, when murderers and robbers cease to 
be free ? or is it to preserve our chartered privileges, 
that a band of superannuated watchmen, who, to protract 
their becoming an additional burden upon the poor-rate, 
beyond the ordinary era of eleemosynary aid, are hel' 
meted in flannel night-caps, and with a rattle and a Ian- 
thorn^ admirable equipment for second childhood^ and eyes 
dim ivith age I are sent forth to guard the lives and pro- 
perty of the inhabitants of the most crow^ded, populous, 
and wealthy city in the world ? To find fault is an easy 
and an odious office. But a traveller, like a bee, should 
never be upon the wing without bringing home some 
sweet to encrease the honey of his native hive. Neither 
at night, nor by day, are the streets infested by v/omeii 
of the town ; they live in a quarter by themselves, and I 
believe are not very num.erous ; some of them are Po- 
lish, of course handsome ; some Germans, of course fas- 
cinating ; and some, and the most of them, fair and frail 
wanderers from the upper parts of Finland, which, al- 
though the portion of the province that we saw was so 
destitute of every thing like beauty, is said to possess 
many pretty faces and good persons amongst the ip- 
males. If it be true, as Mr. Justice Colquhoun's re- 
gister asserts, that the prostitutes of London amount 
to fifty thousand, I should not suppose, from all that I 
could learn, that the frail sisterhood oi Petersburg ex- 
ceeds a tenth of their number. Where these unhappy 
beings abound, it is always a compliment to the chastity 
of the purer part of the sex. There w^as som.e portion 
of sagacity in the remark made by a poor little niglit 
v/anderer, in a city on the continent which shall be 
nameless, when a traveller, v/ho pitied and relieved her 
distress, observed, that he was surprised to see so fevr 
of the sisterhood in such a capital. " Alas, sir," said tiie 
unfortunate, " wq cannot live for the virtuous part of 
" our sex." One morning presented a very singular" 
spectacle. A number of well dressed women, v/alking 
in pairi, fastened bv the arm to each other with cords, 

R 2 



198 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. 

witli their band-boxes in their hands, and each couple 
attended by a police officer, were very quietly and de- 
corously marchfng to the Emperor's cotton-milis, 
which are correctional houses of industry for ladies of, 
this description. There were no repining looks atnongst 
them, not a pouting lip, so great in general is the con- 
stitutional submission to the law in the north. Upoff 
enquiry, I found that a man had been violently iil-treated 
in the haunts of these Idalian goddesses, and that upon 
the affair being represented to the Emperor, he ordered 
three hundred of them, to be marched off for a few months, 
as above mentioned. How the list was filled up, wheth- 
er by ballot, or promiscuously, I know not. Passing by 
the senate in which the nobles assemble to digest and 
discuss such laws as the Emperor may chuse to submit 
to their consideration, the image of justice which adorns 
the right hand side of the grand entrance towards the 
statue of Peter the Great, attracted my notice : she 
v/as blindfolded as asual, but the equipoise of her scales 
was destroyed : a wag who some time since had lost 
his cause, in consequence, as he thought, of the venality 
of his judges, betvvcen frolic and pique had dexterously 
cast a copcc into one of them, and had thus kicked up 
the beani, 

It would be unfair and invidiov.s to investigate the pre- 
sent laws of Russia : the Emperor is convinced of their 
radical defects, and it is intended, with all possible speed, 
to bless the empire with a nev/ code. The brilliant 
elementary outline of legislatio'n, which Catherine 11. 
with the most imposing pomp and solemnity submitted 
to the deputies from all parts of the empire, in which 
she professed to' give equitable lav/s to all her sul^jects, 
from Lapland to the Caspian, and from the Baltic to the 
wall of China, which excited the homage, how sincere 
I know not, of Frederick, and, what she valued more, 
of Voltaire, has never been acted upon. At this meet- 
ing the follovdng cmious incident happened : Two Sa- 
moid deputies v/ere directed by the Empress to state 
those legislative provisions which they thought were 
best adapted to their own nation. One of them replied, 
'' Our laws are feW; and we vv^ant nb more.** " What l** 



Cnxf. 13.3 NORTHERN- Stt^ftM^^'. i^ 

exclaimed the i'mpeiiai legislatrtX, " do tlieftyittiird«i',- 
« and adi]ltei7, never appear anioni^st 5^011 ?" " We 
*< have such cnmes," aiisv/ered the deputy, " a-nd they" 
" are punished : the man who deprives another of his 
« lite wrongfully, is put to death."—" But what," said- 
her Mujesty? intenaiptinf;^ hini, " are the punishments 
« of theft and adultery ?" " How !" said the Samoid, 
with- great astonishment, " are they not suSiciently 
" punished by detection V* Many events have con- 
spired to prevent the accomplishment of the magnificent 
plan of Gacherine ; and heavily oppressive indeed would 
the present lii^;?^ of Russia be, if an appeal to the Em- 
peror did not lie fi^oin the inost abject of his subjects. 

The courts of the grand police ofBce opposite the Ad- 
miralty'^ are cit)wded evei^y day, whei'e the lav/s are ex- 
pounded and administered^ according to the discretion of 
the judicial crHicers appointed to pneaide OY'CT them. 
Whilst En?iland might borrow some ideas from the po- 
lice of Russia, she is enabled tb present to the latter the 
sublimest spectacle of justice. Let us press for a raiO- 
ment thrmigh tlie crowd, into a British coult of crirtiina! 
justice ; see that emaciated tattered wretch at the' bar ! 
he is without friends and without money ; he can bring 
no witnesses ; he can retain no counsel. What then 1 
Is all the force of the law and the powers of eloquence 
against him ? Listen : the judge before whom he stands 
is his advocate I Hear that acute and favorable interroga- 
gation to the witness that presses against the culprit's 
life ; mark that benign exposition ; the miserable being 
is saved : tears gush from his eyes ; he falls upon his 
knees, and in broken accents blesses heaven that he was 
born in a country whose laws befriend the friendless and 
the persecuted. 

I have hitherto omitted to mention the terrible an- 
noyance of the bells of the Greek churches, the most 
deep-toned of any I ever heard : those of one very near 
my chamber used every morning to curtail that little 
portion of sleep which legions of flies had allowed me. 
To a stranger, the alternate clashing and jingling of 
the^se deep-mouthed tenants of the steeple, for an hour 
without any interval, is very harrassing ; the bells, like 



200 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13, 

saleable horses going to a fair, are tied in successiont 
and by pulling the rope which connects them, the 
agreeable harmony of clashing is effected, whilst the 
melody of chiming is produced by striking the particular 
bell with a wedge of iron. The Russian saints are said 
to be very fond of this matin music ; and many was the 
time and oft that I wished it confined exclusively to 
their ears. 

Amongst the other early sounds of the bvisy morning, 
with which you are saluted, some are very foreign, and 
others very familiar, to an EngHshman, and might, if 
the files would permit, half induce him to think that he 
were in the capital of his own country : amongst the 
latter I was particularly delighted with the cry of the 
fruiterer, who, with a reverend beard, carried upon his 
head an oblong board, on which, in little baskets of 
birch bark, very neat and. clean, the choicest summer 
fruits of Russia were disposed. Nothing could be more 
grateful than a block of ice, brought in every morning, 
to chill the water of the Neva with which we washed our- 
selves : I am at a loss to conjecture hov/ the natives of 
tropical climates can survive their sultry summers with- 
out ice. Soon after our arrival we dined at the elegant 

and hospitable country house of Mons. B , upon the 

Peterhofi road, w^here we sat down about thirty to din- 
ner, and after coffee, retired to the gardens, formed of 
little romantic islands rising out of a small lake, the 
whole surrounded by. a v/ood. When we were weary 
of rowing some pleasure boats, an amusement of which 
the Rusbians are very fond, we returned to the house, 
and the rest of the evening was spent in cards and walt- 
zing. The day following we were introduced to the 
English club by a member, where the .company is very 
select, consisting of Russian and Polish noblemen, for- 
eigners of respectability, and that truly digivjied charac- 
ter, an English merchant. The dinner is always excel- 
lent, and served up in the English fashion : adjoining 
are rooms for billiards and reading, where the principal 
foreign papers are taken in. The porter was ornamented 
with a very broad sash of velvet, richly embroidered vdth 
silver, thrown o"ver the left shculder, and held a staff tip- 



Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2:0 F 

pedwith silver, as do most of the porters of the principal 
nobility. The building on the outside is far from being^- 
handsoiTie ; but the apartments are good, and particu-^ 
larly the eating-room, which is very lofty, and has tv/o 
enormous stoves made of brick, covered with blue 
Dutch tiles : upon the whole, its appearance is very 
inferior to the club-houses of Stockholm. About two 
o'clock, the dinner hour at this place, the court-yard is 
crowded with carriages and equipages. 

A fortunate removal of people from the hotel, ena- 
bled me to change my apartment for another more pleas- 
antly situated ; the price was the same, viz. seven ru- 
bles, or nineteen shillings English, per week. This 
rooni was divided, a la Bzcsse, by a screen behind which 
my bed or crib was placed. The windows looked upon 
the Moika canal, where of an evening I used to be sere- 
naded by the common bargemen, and sometimes by the 
rowers of the pleasure -barges. Of the Russian song 
and music I will speak by and bye : I shall only now, as 
some iTiodest banisters say, humbly insist upon it, that 
barbarians have not a natural and ardent taste for music 
and singing. One evening, while aiTiusing myself with a 
young bear in the court-yard of the house of a friend, 
my ears were £Tatitied by some wild notes, which, up- 
on tuiTiing round, I found issued from an instrument re- 
sembling a guitar, upon which a native of Archangel 
was pls-ving very svreetly : the tenderness of the scene 
improved the music. The poor fellow was v/eeping as 
he played, to mitigate the sufferings of his wife, upon 
whom death had fixed his seal, and who, Vv'ith her head 
reclining upon her hand, sat at an open v/indov/ in the 
basement floor to enjoy a little air. The rude and sor- 
rowful musician, and his pale and interesting wife, form- 
ed a subject for the painter. This sensibility, which 
would have charmed a traveller had he beheld it in the 
love -in spiring groves of Italy,, v/as tlie produce of the 
frozen regions of the V/hite Sea ! The natives of Arch- 
angel are looked upon as more civilized than their more 
southern brethren, and servants from this part of Rus- 
sia are preferred for their integrity, intelligence, and ac- 
tivitv.. 



202 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. 

Although I have expressed my attachment to the Rus- 
sian, and like the gocwi humored fellow prodigiously ; 
yet I must admit that he has no objection to improve his 
notions of earthly felicity by a little occasional inebriation. 
At a house where I passed the evening, previous to sup- 
per we had been drinking some ale, which in this coun- 
try is prized on account of its being both excellent and 
forbidden, having left a couple of bottles about half full 
upon the table when supper was announced, a nwst de- 
mure looking menial, with a long beard, who stood be- 
hind my chair, was ordered to bring them in : after 
some little hesitation, he informed liis master " tliat be 
*' was very sorry for it ; but that, as he passed through 
" the room, by mere accident he had emptied the bot- 
" ties." Nature, by some of her odd freaks, very soon 
confirmed the truth of one part of this statement. This 
propensity is much encouraged by the extraordinary 
number of festivals which occur in this country, particu- 
larly at the end of Lent ; almost as many as the feasts of 
the civic coi'poration of London, which it is said v/ould 
present, if they v.'ere duly observed, one for every day 
in the year, and some over. 

One day whilst I was at Petei^burg, as the Emperor 
was returning from Cronstadt, when the weather was 
most oppressively hot, be halted at a little village about 
twenty versts from the residence, in consequence of the 
relay of horses not being immediately ready. An En« 
giish merchant who had a country house adjoining, with 
that warmth of heart which forgets and surpasses all eti- 
quette, ran out, and presented to the Emperor, who ap- 
peared to be in great heat and covered wi:h dust, a glass 
of excellent Burton ale, for which his Majesty, with his 
usual afi'abi-ity, thanked his attentive host, and drank. 
Both the Emperor and the merchant forgot that the be- 
verage was prohibited, or secretly relished it more on 
that account. A German who was present, and was 
struck with the frank and cordial avidity with which the 
Emperor emptied the glass, observed, "that had a 
" Frenchman offered it, his Majesty would have ir^dc 
*f OBe of his horse-s taste It first." 



Chap. IS.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 205 

Upon another occasion the Emperor exhibited the na- 
tive goodness of his heart : some British bottled porter, 
which is also prohibited, was shipped for an EngUshman 
whose lady was very much indisposed, and to whom it 
was recommended by her physicians. Scarcely had it 
reached Petersburg from Cronstadt, before it was seized 
by the custom-house officer : upon the Emperor hearing 
of it, he sent to the customs, declaring it to be his own, 
(for such, in truth, the law of confiscation had made it,) 
and immediately forwarded it, with some very kind ex- 
pressions, to the fair invalid. 

The princely magnificence in which some of the 
Russian nobility live is prodigious. Iiaving occasion 
©ne day to find out a person who occupied a suit of rooms 
in one of the great town hotels of Count SheramacofF, 
the Russian Duke of Bedford, we had an opportunity of 
seeing this enormous pile, in v/hich a great number of 
respectable families reside ; and the rent, amounting to 
twenty thousand rubles, is applied by its m.unifice,nt 
lord to the relief of the poor. Exclusive of another 
superb mansion in the city, which he inhabits, the Count 
has a town on the road to Moscow called Paulova, con- 
tainine' about two thousand five hundred houses, and five 
churches : this place is the Birmingham of Russia, all 
the inhabitants of which are his slaves^ v;ho carry on an 
extensive trade on the Caspian Sea. In the neighbor- 
hood of this place, he has a palace rivalling Versailles in 
extent and splendor. Many of his slaves, all of wliom 
adore him, have realized vast fortunes, and display at 
their tables sumptuous services of plate, every costly 
luxury, and have foreign masters to teach their children. 
Though rolling in unwieldy revenues, the Count is fre- 
quently embarrassed, from his princely munificence ; 
yet he never replenishes his exhausted treasury, by ex- 
ercising the sovereign right v/hich he has to raise the 
capitation -tax of his peasantry. What additional bles- 
sings might not such a nobleman bestow upon his coun- 
try, by converting his vassals into tenants : — how great 
and immediate would be the influence and example of a 
spirit so liberal r— -with v/hat power has Fortime invested 
him to accelerate the civilisation of his cGuntry i One 



504 NORTHERISI SUMMEH. TChap. 13. 

-of the Count's slaves advertised, during my stay in 
Petersburg, for a farriily preceptor, with an offer of two 
thousand rubles per annum, and six rubles per day for his 
table, and a cook 1 The Count was under severe domes- 
tic affiiclion at this time, having just lost his. amiable 
lady, who had formerly been one of his slaves : she left 
behind her a little son to console him, whom the Empe- 
ror elevated to the rank of nobility ; a measure rendered 
necessary in consequence of his mixed birth, to enable 
him to enjoy his father's wealth and honors. Prince 
Sheramatoff, who is the lord of one hundred and forty 
t-hcusand slaves, lost eighty thousand rubles one night at 
the ga.ming-table : not having so much money at imme- 
diate command, he offered to transfer to the winner an 
estate of slaves of that value : as soon as the unfortu- 
nate vassals heard of the intended assignment, dreading 
to have another master, they immediately raised the 
money amongst them, and sent it to their lord. Many 
of the nobles have three hundred servants ; and one of 
that order, it is reported, had thirteen thousand in con- 
stant attendance. 

■ The manners of the Russian nobility very much par- 
take of the manners of the old school of France, and, 
in complimentary profession, perhaps a little exceed it. 
They are acute observers of human nature ; and know- 
ing that their urbanity, on account of their polar situa- 
tion, is generally suspected, they are even anxious to 
make a profuse display of it. They are remarkably hos- 
pitable, and very attentive to strangers. Connubial hap- 
piness amongst the higher orders seldom endures eleven 
m-onths after the honey-moon, when the parties general- 
ly kiss, pout, part, and afterwards are happy. Divorce 
is not recognized by the laws of Russiai The road to 
Moscow freqently exhibits a singular spectacle of lords 
and their ladies, taldng a half yearly glance at each oth- 
^r as they meet, in exchanging their residences in the 
two cities, for their mutual accommodation and amuse- 
ment : this is the nearest point of contact. The educa- 
tion of the young nobility very frequently suffers from 
the free and unguarded manner with which they receive 
every needy adventurer in the capacity of domestic tutor, 



Ghap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 205 

particularly if he be an Englishman : English taylors, 
and servants out of livery, and travelling valets, fre- 
,quently become the preceptors and governors of chil- 
dren. A fellow of this description said one day : " In 
" summer I be clerk to a butcher at Cronstadt, and in 
" winter I teaches English to the Russian nobility's chil 
" dren." I knew a lady whose valet left her at Peters- 
burg, in consequence of having been appointed to the 
^uperintendance of the children of a Russian nobleman 
of high distinction, with one thousand rubles per annum, 
a table, and two slaves. The Russian nobility are in 
.general very extravagant, and consequently frequently 
embarrassed : their bills are often at a discount of sixty, 
and even seventy pounds per cent. 

Soon after our arrival, we visited the Grand Imperial 
Theatre, or Opera House, called the Stone-Theatre, 
v/hich stands in a large open place, nearly in front of the 
Marine Garrison, form.erly the New^ Goal, and the Nico- 
lai Canal. At four angles, in this spacious area, are four 
pavilions of iron, supported by pillars of the same met- 
al, resting upon a circular basement of granite, within 
which, in winter, large fir fires are constructed, the wind 
"being kept off by vast circular moveable shutters of iron, 
for warming and sci'eening the servants of those who visit 
the theatre in the winter. Previous to the erection of these 
sheds, many of those unfortunate persons were frozen 
to death. The government, attentive to the lives of the 
people, has interdicted performances at the opera, when 
the frost is unusually severe. The front is a noble porti- 
co, supported by doric pillars ; the interior is about the 
size of Covent-Garden, of an oval shape, and splendidly 
but rather heavily decorated. The lower tier of boxes 
project from the sides, at the back of which are pilasters, 
adorned with appropriate decorations, richly gilded, a- 
bove v/hich are three rows of boxes, supported by Corin- 
thian pillars, each of which, as well as tiiose below, con- 
tain nine persons. Nothing less than the whole box can 
be taken. It frequently happens that servants stand be- 
hind their masters or mistresses in the boxes, during the 
performance, and present a curious motly appearaiice. 
The Imperial box is in the centre of the first tier, pro- 

S 



306 -KORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13. 

jecting a little, is sttiall^ 'ai^d very plaitily decorated. The 
pit has seven or eight rows of seats with backs to them, 
in v/hich a commodious portion of space for each specta- 
tor is marked off by little plates of brass, numbered up- 
on the top of the back seat ; this part is called the faute- 
uils. Such is the order observed here, and in every the- 
atre On the continent, that however popular the piece, a 
spectator may, during any part of the performance, 
reach his seat, in this part of the theatre, without any 
difficulty. Behind, but not boarded off, is tli« pit and 
the parterre. The price of admission to the boxes and 
fauteuils are two silver rubles, little more than five shil- 
lings. There are no galleries. The massy girandoles, 
one of which is placed at every pilaster, are never illu- 
minated but when the Imperial family are present, on 
which occasion only, a magnificent circle of large pa- 
tent lamps is used, descending from the centre of the 
roof; at otlier times its place is supplied by one of smiall- 
er dimensions, v/hen the obscurity which prevails indu- 
ces the ladies generally to appear in an undress. Al- 
though this gloom before the curtain is said to be advan- 
tageous to the CiTect of scenery, yet the eye is saddened, 
us it runs its circuit in vain for forms adorned with grace- 
ful drapery, the glittering gem, the nodding plume, and 
looks of adorned beauty, that give fresh brilliance to the 
fav galaxy of light. This theatre is furnished with a 
great number of doors and passages, reservoirs of water, 
Lnd an engine in case of fire, and with concealed flues 
and stoves, to give it summer warmth in winter. It is 
ahvays strongly guarded by a detachment from the 
guards, as vv eU as by the police officers, who preserve the 
most admirable order among the carriages and servants. 
It is not an ungratifying sight, after the opera, to pause at 
the doors and see with what uncommon sldll and velocity 
the carriages, each drawn by four horses, drive up 
to the grand entrance under the portico, receive their 
company and gallop off at full speed ; pockets are very 
rarelypicked, and accidents seldom happen. 

Owing to the size and quantity of decorations, and the 
spacious arrangement of the boxes, I should "not think 
tiie theatre could contain more than twelve hundred per- 



Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 20.7 

sons. Its receipts have n^ver yet exceeded one thou- 
sand six hundred and eighty rvibles, or two hundred ixpA 
forty pounds. How different from, a Londpn theatre, 
which, on a crowded night, when a Siddojis or. a Litcb- 
field delight their audience, is lined with faces, and the 
very walls appear to breathe 1 

The first opera I saw was Blue Eeard, perforixied by 
Italian performers, the subject of which vaii-ed but little 
from the representation of it in England, except that the 
last wife of Blue Beard has a lover, who in the concluding 
act lays the sanguinary tyrant breathless with his sword. 
The catastrophe was finely worked up, and drew from 
the Russians successions of enthusiastic acclamation. 
Do these sentiments of teuderness^ these noble notions 
pf retributive justice, denote an immutable,, barbarism ? 
The processions were in, the first style of magniace],TL9ei 
the dresses and ornaments were very costly, and it is not 
unusual to introduce, on these occasions, one thousand 
men, selected from the guards for the expression of their 
faces and symmetry of their figures, to swell the scene of 
pomp. The orchestra was very full, and combined the 
first-rate powers of music. The scenes were handsome 
*ind well managed. A room was formed of entire sides, 
and well finished ; and a garden was displayed \vith all 
its characteristics. The Emperor contributes very mu- 
.nificently to the support of this thea.tre ; and as ail the 
machinists and workmen are his slaves, they are all un- 
der admirable discipline. The introduction of a tree in- 
to a study, or fringing the top of a forest with rich ciel- 
ing, scenic blunders wbich frequently occur on the Eng- 
lish stage, would hazard the backs of the Russian scene 
shifters. This theatre has a very beautiful set of scenes, 
which is never displayed but on nights when the Imperial 
Family honor it with their presence. The silence and 
decorum of the audience cannot but impress the mind of 
any one, who has witnessed the boisterous clamors of an 
English audience. The curtain ascends at six o'clock 
precisely. No after-piece, as with us, only now and 
then a ballet, succeeds the opera, which is generally con- 
cluded by nine o'clock, when the company go to the 
-Summer Gardens, drive about the city, or proceed to 
card and supper parties. 



208 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13; 

This theatre is as much dedicated to the Russian 
muses, as to those of more genial climates. In this 
respect Catherine II. pursued the same plan of domestic 
policy, so wisely adopted by Gustavus III. but the plan 
since her demise has never been encouraged by the 
higher circles. A Russ play has the same effect upon 
fashion in Russia, as George Barnwell has upon the 
same class in England. Although in the former there 
are some inimitable performers, as in the hero of the lat- 
ter, one of the most perfect and affecting imitatioiis of 
nature, in that v/alk of the drama, ever exhibited upon 
any stage, is displayed by Mr. Charles Kemble. 

I went one evening, in company with my amiable and 
gallant friend, Captrdn Elphinstone, to see a Russ opera, 
called " The school for Jealousy :" it is not much es- 
teemed. As it proceeded Captain E. explained it to 
me : the sentiments were frequently coarse, sometimes 
very obscene ; the actors, who vvere Russians, appeared 
to perform with great ability ; the heroine of the piece 
v^'as represented by a very pretty and interesting girl^ 
who was taken from the hospital of foundlings : she* 
manifested grace, and a bewitching naivete^ and played 
and sung most sweetly. I am sorry I have forgotten her 
name; she is the principal Russ actress, and is a very 
great favorite. In the course of the play, to my astonish- 
ment, was introduced a scene of the inside of the mad- 
house at Petersburg, in which amongst a number of 
horrible grotesque figures, a mad periwig-maker threw 
a handful of hair povvder into the face of a frantic girl, 
who ran raving about the stage v/ith dishevelled locks, 
which excited strong risibility amongst the audience. 
I was so disgusted at the spectacle, and the applause, 
that I wished it had not happened ; but as it did, I record 
it. Although an English audience har>. been delighted 
at a dance of undertakers, laughed at the feasts of skele- 
tons in pantomimes, and in Hamlet has expressed great 
mrith at seeing a buffoon grave-digger roll human 
skulls upon the stage, and beat them about with his 
spade, it could not endure a sight in which those objects 
whom pity and every tender feeling have consecrated, 
5!.re brought forward with ridicule. But let it be re- 



Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 209 

membered that madness is less frequent in Russia than 
in milder regions ; and hence the people, for they are 
very far from being strangers to feelings which would 
do honor to the most civilized of the hum^n race, are 
less acquainted v/ith, and consequently less affected by its 
appearance; and when it is thus wantonly displayed 
upon the stage, it appears under the mask of buifoonery- 
The governmxent would do well to suppress this and 
every similar exhibition, calculated only to imbrute'a ci- 
vilized mind, and postpone the refinement of a riide one. 

I was much more pleased with the Russ opera of the 
Nymph of the Dnieper, vv^hich is so popular and attrac- 
tive, that it never fails to fill the seats of fashion. It is 
chiefly intended to display the ancient costume and mu- 
sic of Russia. The story is very simple : A prince has 
sworn eternal constancy to a nymph, who is violently at- 
tached to him ; his father, a powerful king, wishes him 
to marry a princess of an ancient house ; the prince con- 
sents, but the nuptials are always interrupted by the 
stratagems of the jealous nymph, who appears in various 
disguises. The first scene was singularly beautiful : it 
displayed a river and its banks, and nymphs swimming ; 
the manner in which they rose upon the water was admira- 
bly natural ; the music of the ancient Russ airs, in which 
the celebrated Cossacka is introduced, were exquisite ; 
the scenery v/as very fine, and displayed a namber of 
pantomimic changes. 

The Russian noblemen are fond of the drama ; almost 
every country m^ansion has a private theatre. Those of 
the nobility, who, from disgust to' the court, or some othef 
cause, confin* their residence to Moscow and the adja- 
cent country, live in the voluptuous magnificence of eas- 
tern satraps : after dinner they frequently retire to a vast 
rotunda, and sip their coffee, during a battle of dogs, wild 
bearS) and wolves ; from thence they go to their private 
theatres, wh^re'great dramatic skill is frequently displav* 
ed by their slaves, v/ho perform, and v/ho also furnish the 
orchestra. These people are tutored by French players, 
^vho are very liberally .payed by their employers. 



210 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 14. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A Gloomy Catastrophe. 

IT is \Yith deep regret that I approach the delicate and 
awful subject of this chapter. Humanity would glad- 
ly cover it v.ith the pail of oblivion ; but justice to the 
memory of an unhappy monarch, and to the chief of the 
august family of Russia, demand a candid though careful 
developementof the events which preceded the fall of the 
last Emperor. The original source of my information 
is from one who beheld the catastrophe which I am about 
to relate, whom I can neither name nor doubt ; a catas- 
trophe which is too near the period in Avhich I write, not 
to render an unrestrained disclosure of all the particulars 
with which I have been furnished, unfair if not impru- 
dent. The causes that first created those well-knovfn 
prejudices which Catherine II. cherished against her 
son, have perished with her ; but all the world knows, 
that, during the many years which rolled away between 
the Grand Duke's arrival at the age of maturity and his 
elevation to the throne, his august mother never r^drait- 
ted him to any participation of power, but kept him in a 
state of the most abject and mortifying separation from- 
the court, and in almost total ignorance of the affairs of 
the empire. Although Paul, by his birth, was generalis- 
simo of the armies, he never was permitted to head a 
regiment ; and although, by the same right, grand admi- 
ral of the Baltic, he was interdicted from ever visiting the 
fleet at Cronstadt. To these painful pri\-fttions may be- 
added, that when he v/as recommended, that is crdered, 
to travel, ^during his absence Catherine seized and sent to 
Siberia one of his most cherished friends, because she 
discovered that he had informed her son of some incon- 
siderable state affair. Thus Paul beheld himself not 
only severed from the being who gave him birth, but 
from all the ordinary felicities of life. The pressure of 
his hand excited suspicion ; peril was in his attachment, 
and in his confidence guilt and treason. He could not 
have a friend, without furnishing a victim. 



Ghap. 14.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 211 

A gentleman nearly connected with me, now no more, 
a man of talent and acute observation and veracity, had 
several years since the honor of spending a short period 
at the little secluded court of Gatchina, upon which, as 
the dazzling beams of imperial favor never shone, the 
abserver was left in the tranquillity of the shade, to make 
a more calm, steady, and undiverted survey. At this 
time, Paul displayed a m.ind very elegantly inclined, and 
without being brilliant, highly cultivated, accomplished 
and informed, frank and generous, brave and magnani- 
mous, a heart tender and affectionate, and a disposition 
very svfeet, though most acutely and poignantly sus- 
ceptiblej: his person was not handsome, but his eye was 
penetrating, and his manners such as denoted the finish- 
ed gentleman. In his youth he was seen by the bed- 
side of the dying Panin, the hoary and able minister of 
Catherine, and his tutor, kissing and bathing his hand 
v/ith tears. As an evidence of his intellectual vigor, let 
the ela.borate and able ukase, by which he settled the 
precedence and provision of the imperial family, un- 
questionably his own unassisted composition, be referred 
to. He loved his amiable princess, and his children, 
with the most ardent, the most indulgent fondness, and 
it was the labor of their love, as well as of his servants, 
who were devotedly attached to him, to requite his af- 
fections and graciousness, and to endeavor to fill up with 
every endearing, every studied attention, the gloomy 
chasm which had been formed by an unnatural and in- 
explicable neglect ; but this chasm was a bottomless 
abyss, upon the brink of which his wounded spirit was ev- 
er v/andering ! Paul possessed a high martial inclination, 
and, reflecting that he might one day mount the throne 
of a military empire, he made the art of war the princi- 
pal object of his studies ; but neither this pursuit, so co- 
pious, so interesting, nor tiie endearments of those v/ho 
surrounded him, could expel from his niind the sense 
of his injuries. He beheld himself, the second person- 
age and the destined ruler of the empire, postponed to 
the periodical favorite of his mother, the minister of her 
unbounded voluptuousness, not unfrequently elevated to 
the presidency of the Hermitage from th.e ranks, with no 



212 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. U, 

other pretensions than vigorous Lealth and a mighty 
fraiiie ; whilst, on the other hand, the bleeding shade of 
his father \vasfor ever, in his morbid imagination, point- 
ing to his wound, and whispering revenge. Thus exiled 
from the hgart of his m.other, is it a matter of gurprise 
that he should exclude her from his own ? 

Catherine more than once observed, that her son 
nvoiild not long occupy the throne after her decease ; and 
it has been the fashion to say, that her alienation from 
him was justified by the events which succeeded her 
death. With this prophetic spirit, she devoted all her 
cai'e to the education of her grandsons, Alexander and 
.Constantine, and exercised all the povvxrs she possessed 
towards the consummation of her prediction. She fore- 
told that the flower which she had planted would wither 
early : she shook it till every blossom fell, apd shaded it 
so, that the dew of Heaven should never visit it more : 
she pressed and pierced the delicate and ardent mind of 
her son until she subverted it. Was it then a proof of 
inspiration, to prognosticate the brevity of his reign over 
an empire, the "history of which has too often and fatally ' 
proved, that hovvxver despotic its government, and there 
is not one under heaven more absohite, a cautious and 
dexterous cultivation of the interest, feelings, prejudices, 
and affections of the people, is inseparable from the safe* 
ty of the ruler ? 

A short time before her demise, Catherine committed 
to P Z , her last favorite, whom she highly es- 
teemed, a declaration of her will, addressed to the senate, 
purporting that Paul should be passed over in the suc- 
cession, and that the Grand Duke Alexander should 
mount the, vacant throne. As soon as the favorite was 
acquainted with the sudden death of the Empress, he 
flew to Paviovsk, about thirty -five versts from the capi- 
tal, where Paul occasionally resided, whom he met on 
the road ; and, after a short explanation, delivered up ta 
him this important document. ' Paul, charmed with his 
zeal and loyalty, preserved him in all his honors and for- 
tunes, vvhiista general and rapid dispersion, to all points 
of the compass, instantaneously succeeded amongst the 
members of the male seraglio of the Hermitage. Th^ 



CHAr. 14.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 21^ 

Emperor ascended the throne without difficulty, but a 
total stranger to his subjects. One of the first mea- 
sures of his reign displayed, in a very sing-ular manner, 
the native goodness of his heart, under the clouds that 
rapidly began to overshadow it, in an act of piety tov^^ards 
his murdered father, whose remains he removed from 
the church of St. Alexander Nevski, called the Monas- 
tery ; and having exhibited them in great funeral state, 
hq consigned them to the sepulchre of Catharine II., in 
the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The latter part 
of this extraordinary transaction has often induced me ta 
think that Paul did not believe that his mother issued the 
order for the assassination of his father. At this eccen- 
tric soleranity, he compelled Count Alexey OrlofF, and 
Prince Baratynski, under whose hands the unhappy mo- 
narch is said to have perished, to stand on each side of 
the body as it lay in state, and afterv/ards to follow it to 
the tomb as the principal mourners. 

Not long after this event, his mind began occasionally 
to display the most fearful symptoms of distraction ; but 
when his reason was restored, the hapless Emperor 
never failed to endeavor, with the most affecting sensi- 
bility, to repair the ruin and havoc which his delirium 
had occasioned. The deposed Stanislaus, the broken- 
hearted King of Poland, partook alternately of his be- 
neficence and severity ; but with v/hat demonstration of 
respect and genuine grief did the Emperor attend the 
obsequies of this last of the Sarmates ? On that gloomy 
occasion, he commanded in person the guards who as- 
sisted at the funeral ; and uncovering himself, with the 
most affecting emotions, saluted the coffin as it passed^ 
To the memory of the hoary and heroic Suvaroff, wha 
fell a broken hearted victim to the distraction of his Im- 
perial master, in periods of agonized and compunctious 
reflection, he raised a colossal statue of bronze, in the 
vast area behind Benskoi's palace, opposite to Romant- 
zoff 's monument ; and, on the days when he reviewed 
his troops there, he used to order them to march by in 
open order, and face the statue, which he said represent- 
ed one of the greatest and bravest generals of his own 
or any other age. 



2.1-fe NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 14' 

Notwithstanding the important service which P- 



Z had rendered him, the (Emperor could never sep- 
arate him, in his mind's eye, from the caresses of his moth- 
er, and speedily became disgusted with him ; spoke of 
him with great asperity to his friends, and at length, con- 
verting the bounty of Catherine into a robbery, he de- 
nounced him as a defaulter to the Imperial treasury of 
half a million of rubles ; and, convinced of the justice 
Qf the allegation, proceeded, without loss of time, to 
sequester the vast estates v/hich belonged to him and to 
his two brothers. Driven to desperation by such con- 

, <iuct, one of the sufferers, the second brother, one day 
boldly walked up to the Emperor upon the parade, and, 
with manly eloquence, represented the injustice of liis 
measures. Paul received him without anger, heard him. 
without interruption, reflected, and restored the proper- 
ty : but the original disgust rapidly returning, he order- 
ed P Z to reside upon his estate, to which he 

submitted for a considerable time. But the mind "of the 
exile was too ardent to endure seclusion ; ambitious, 
bold, active, andenterprizing, he determined upon releas- 
ing himself from the unjust constraint imposed upon lum 
by his sovereign, the delirium of whose mind now fre- 
quently burst forth with all the fury and desolation of a 
convulsed volcanoe. Messrs. Otto, Sieyes, and Talley- 
rand, who at that time formed a diplomatic trio, or rather 
were spies, at the court of Petersburg, v/ith the dexteri- 
ty of talent, and the subtilty of Frenchmen, resolved to 
turn the gathering storm to the advantage of their own 
country, by means which, extending beyond their cal- 
culcition and their wishes, finally and rapidly led to the 
. overthrow of the Emperor. Under their tuition, a 
French actress was introduced on the boards of the 
French theatre at Petersburg, and placed in such situa- 
tions of allurement, that the eye of the Emperor could 
not but notice her. The ruin of domestic happiness 
furnished these politicians with the means of their suc- 

r cess. A French actress v.tis destined to estrange the 
Emperor from bis family, and to create a temporary and 
terrible change in the aitairs of Europe. Madame Che- 
valier possessed that style of face which, without being 



Ghap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 21S 

regularly handsome, was more sweet, expressive, and 
captivating, than the exact symmetry of a finished beau- 
ty. Her person was small, but delicate, and rather en 
bon fiomt : her manners were of the highest order, 'jand 
enchanted every one who approached her. The Empe- 
ror was fond of music : Madame Chevalier excelled up- 
on the harp, and sung to it some sweet and crafty verses, 
composed by one of her three employers, and which she 
herself ha;d set to music ; the subject of which was, the 
martial skill, vMor, and generosity,of the Emperor. She 
had not spread her witcheries long, before an evening 
wa:s appointed for a private gratification of the musical 
taste and passion of the Emperor. This Syren very 
soon became the sole idol of his shattered mind, which 
she moved according to the direction of her secret prin- 
cipals, until the Emperor withdrew himself from his al- 
'liance with Austria, recalled Suvaroff and his army cov- 
"^red with glory, crowded the roads to Siberia with Bri- 
tish subjt^cts, and filled v/ith terror aind consternation the 
Exchange of the British empire. I mean not to enume- 
rate all the calamities v/bich followed : they Y/ere too sig- 
nal not to be widely knoV/n, too recent not to be well re- 
membered ; and, from their very nature, incontestably 
proved the aberration of those faculties which could 
alone, by their presence, render the Emperor responsi- 
ble for ail the misery, dismay, and ruin, which threaten- 
ed the very existence of the empire. P Z— — — re- 
solved upon availing himself of the influence of the fair 
favorite, to whom he addressed himself with all the insi- 
nuation of person, manners, wit, and nio-ney : having en- 
gaged her in his favor-, he made her acquainted with 

Count K , a man who, from having been about the 

person of Paul in the menial capacity of a valet, at last 
obttuned a high place in his affection, distinguished hoiir 

or, and great wealth. The more firmly to bind K to 

his interests, P— — . Z- feigned an honorable passion 

for the daughter of the form.er, who was, like ail the sud- 
den favorites of fortune, nnuch pleased at the prospect of 
an alliance with a veiy distinguished family. Count 

K , and Madame Chevalier, conceived many plans 

for prevailing upon his Majesty to restore Z to his 



^1« NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 14. 

favor. At length, one evening, vi^hen she had tranq\iil- 
fized the mind of the Emperor, and excited in him an. ap- 
pearance of gaiety by the vivacity of her wit, and some 
of her most successful songs, she artfully insinuated that 

-P Z- v/as the most unhappy man alive in being 

deprived of the Emperor's favor, and of the pov/er of pro- 
moting the interests of one of the greatest geniuses that 
ever mounted the Czarian throne, to whom he was most 
inviolably attached. The Emperor paused, and expres- 
sed some doubt of the truth of the statement ; but ujxjn 
her reassuring him of its sincerity, accompanied by some 
of those little blandishments which no woman ever knf;w 
how to display with more finished address than Madame 

Chevalier, Paul granted her petition, and recalled Z 

to the residence, where he fie w with the celerity of a 
courier, and threw himself at the feet of the Emperor, by 
whom he was graciously received, and from whose pre- 
sence he ^Aithdrew to present his fair advocate with the 
stipulated rev/ard, a magnificent aigretle of diamonds, 
valued at sixty thovisand rubles. Whatever private 

pique Z m.ight have cherished against his Imperial 

master, I believe that it was wholly lost in his review of 
the deteriorated and dreadful condition of the empire, 
and in those awful measures of restoration which were 
afterwards resorted to. Z gradually and warily un- 
folded his mind to K , who as cautiously entered into 

his views, until their confidence was completely estab- 
lished. The result of their deliberations w^as, that, to 
save the empire, it was necessary that the Emperor 
should be removed. They next prevailed upon Count 

P , the governor of the city, and Count P — — , a very 

young nobleman, but of considerable family interest, the 

son of the celebrated generah Count P P , who 

so eminently distinguished himself in the Turkish war, 

and also the Prince Y , and some other persons of 

great rank and consequence. Ail of these noblemen were 
actuated by no other m^ctive, than to prevent the final 
ruin of their country, and for this purpose they determin- 
ed to place in peril their lives and their fortunes. 

In their conferences, w^hich wxre managed with admi- 
rable discretion, it was resolved that Paul should die ; 



Chat. 14.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 2i7 

and, like Csesar, it was destined that he should perish in 
the ides of March, on the day of the festival called Mas- 
laintza. 

I think I hear the voice of humanity exclaim, " Why 
'^ not provisionally remove the unhappy Monarch from 
" the throne ?" Alas I the constitution of Russia pos- 
sesses none of those mild and beneficent provisions, v»^hich 
■endear our own constitution to us a thousand and a thou- 
sand times. When the ruler is once mounted on the 
throne, an abyss opens below, and the descent from the 
•last step is into eternity. I am endeavoring to illustrate 
motives, not justify them ; the record is before ano- 
ther tribunal ! It is scarcely necessary for me to observe, 
that the august family of Paul were wholly unacquaint- 
ed with the meditated blow. 

The Emperor from an aversion he had taken to those 
palaces, which formed the favorite residence of Cathe- 
rine, resolved upon building a palace for himself. The 
gorgeous magnificence of Zarsko Zelo, and of the Win- 
ter palace, and all the Oriental voluptuousness of tlie 
Hermitage, were hateful to him ; indeed to such an el- 
evation had his abhorrence of these places attained, that 
he had determined to reduce them to the dust, that only 

^* The blackness of ashes should mark where they stood." 

His fate, which was fast approaching, prevented the ac- 
•complishment of this irretiievable act of delirium. The 
Emperor and his family resided, at the time vfhen the 
confederacy had resolved upon his removal, in the new 
palace of Saint Michael. It is an enormous quadrangu- 
lar pile, of r^d Dutch brick, rising from a massy base- 
ment of hewn granite; it stands at the bottom of the 
-Summer Gardens, and the lofty spire of its Greek cha- 
pel, richly covered with ducat gold, rising above the 
trees, has a beautiful appearance. 

As Paul was anxious to inliabit this palace as soon af- 
ter he was crowned as possible, the masons, the carpen-^ 
ters, and various artificei s, toiled vrita incredible labor by 
day and by torch-light, under the sultry sun of the sum- 
mer, and in all the severity of a polar winter, and in three 

T 



2 1 8 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Cti at. m 

years this enormous and magnificent fabric was comple* 
ted. The whole is moated round, and when the stran- 
ger surveys its bastions of granite, and numerous drawr- 
bridges, he is naturally led to conclude, that it was in- 
tended for the last asylum of a Prince at war with his 
subjects. Those who have seen its massy walls, and 
the capaciousness and variety of its chambers, will easily 
admit that an act of violiince might be committed in one 
room, and not be heard by those who occupy the adjoin* 
ing one ; and that a massacre might be perpetrated at 
one end, and not known at the other. Paul took posses- 
sion of this palace as a place of strength, and beheld it 
with rapture, because his Imperial mother had never 
even-seen it. Whilst his family were here, by every act 
of tenderness endeavoring to soothe the terrible pertur* 
bation of his mind, there were not wanting those ;^vho ex- 
erted every stratagem to inflame and encrease it. These 
people were constantly insinuatfng,' tliat every hand was 
armed against him. With this impression, which added 
fuel to his burning brain, he ordered a secret stair-cas€ 
tobe constructed, which, leading from his own chamber, 
passed under a false stove in the anti-room, and led by 
a small door to the terrace. 

It was the custom of the Emperor to sleep in an outer 
apartment next to the Empress', upon a sopha, in his 
regimentals and boots, whilst the Grand Duke and 
Dutchess, and the rest of the Imperial family, were 
lodged at various distances, in apartments below the sto- 
ry which he occupied. On the tenth day of March, 
O. S. 1801, the day preceding the fatal night, Avhether 
Paul's apprehension, or anonymous information, sug- 
gested the idea, is not known, but conceiving that a 
storm was ready to burst upon him, he sent to Count 
P— ^ — , the governor of the city, one of the noblemen 
who had resolved on his destruction : " I am informed, 

"P ," said the Emperor, " that there is a conspiracy 

on foot against me ; do you think it necessary to take 
any precaution ?" The Count, v/ithout betraying the 
least emotion, replied, " Sire, do not suffer such appre- 
f' hensions to haunt your mind ; if there were any com- 
" binations forming against your Majesty's person, lam 



Chap. 14.] NOHTHERN SUMMElt. 21^ 

<> sure I shottid be acquainted with it." " Then I am 
** satisfied," said the Emperor, and the governor with^ 
drew. Before Paul retired to rest, he unexpectedly ex- 
pressed the most tender solicitude for the Empress and 
his children, kissed them with all the warmth of fare- 
well fondness, and remained v/ith them longer than 
\isual ; and after he had visited the centinels at their dif- 
ferent posts, he retired to his channber, where he had 
Hot long remained, before, under some colorable pretex-t, 
that satisfied the men, the guard was changed by the 
officers w^ho had the command for the night, and were 
engaged in the confederacy. An hussar, whom the 
Emperor had particularly honored by his notice and at- 
tention, always at night slept at his bed-room door, in the 
anti-room. It was impossible to remove this faithful* 
soldier by any fair means. At this momentous period, 
silence reigned throughout the palace, except v/here it 
was disturbed by the pacing of the centinels, or at a dis- 
tance by the murmurs of the Neva, and only a few lights 
were to be seen distantly and irregularly gleaming' 
through the windows of this dai'k colossal abode. In the- 

dead of the night, Z and his friends, amounting to 

eight or nine persons) passed thedrafW-bridge, easily as- 
cended the stair-case which led to Paul's chamber, and 
met with no resistance till they reached the anti-room, 
wiien the faithful hussar, awakened by the noise^ chal- 
lenged them, and presented his fusee : much as they 
must have all admired ihe brave fidelity of the guard, 
neither time nor circumstances would admit of an act of 
generosity, wiiich might have endangered the whole 
plan. Z — ^— drew his sabre and cu". the poor fellow 
down. Paul, awakened by the noise, sprung from his 
sopha : at this moment the whole party rushed into his 
room : the unhappy Sovereign, anticipating their design, 
at first endeavored to entrench himself in the chairs and 
tables, then recovering himself, he assumed ahigh tone, 
told, them they w^re his prisoners, and called upon 
them to surrender. Finding that they fixed their eyes 
steadily and fiercely upon him, and continued advancing 
towards him, he implored them to spare his life, de- 
clared his consent instantly to- relinquish the scepti-e, 



220 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chaf. 1 4> 

and to accept of any terms which they would dictate. 
In his raving, he offered to make them princes, and to- 
give them estates, and titles, and orders, without end. 
They now began to press upon him, when he made a 
convulsive effort to reach the window : in the attempt he 
failed, and indeed so high was it from the ground, that 
had he succeeded, the expedient would only have put a 
more instantaneous period to his m.isery. In the effort he 
very severely cut his hand with the glass ; and as they 
drew him back he grasped a chair, with which he felled 
one of the assailants, and a desperate resistance took 
place So great was the noise, that notwithstanding the 
massy v/alis, and thick double folding-doors, which di- 
vided the apartments, the Empress was disturbed, and. 
began to cry for help, when a voice whispered in her ear,: 
and imperatively told her to remain quiet, otherwise, if 
she uttered another word, she should be put to instant 
death. Whilst the Emperor was thus makiiig a last 

struggle, the Prince Y- struck him on one of his 

temples with his list, and laid him upon the floor ; Paul,, 
recovering from the blow, again implored his life ; at 

ibis moment the heart of P Z relented, and* 

upon being observed to tremble and hesitate, a young 
Hanoverian resolutely exclaimed, " We have passed the 
Rubicon : if we spare his life, before the setting of to- 
morrow's sun, we shall be his victims 1" upon which he 
took off his sash, turned it twice round the naked neck 
of the Emperor, and giving one end to Z. , and hold- 
ing the other himself, they pulled for a considerable 
time v/ith all their force, until their miserable sovereign 
was no more ; they then retired from the palace without 
the least molestation, and returned to their respective 
hom^s. What occurred after their departure can be 
better conceived than depicted : medical aid was resort- 
ed to, but in vain, and upon the breathless body of the 
Emperor fell the tears of his widowed Empress and 
children, and domestics ; nor was genuine grief ever 
more forcibly or feelingly displayed than by him on 
whose brow this melancholy event had planted the 
crown. So passed away this night of horror, and thus, 
perished a Prince, tq whom nature wgts severehj bouiiti- 



tHAP. U.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 221 

fill. The acuteness and pungency of his feeling was 
incompatible with happiness : unnatural prejudice press- 
ed upon the fibre, too finely spun, and snapped it. 

'Tis not as heads that never ache suppose, 
Forgery of fancy, and a dream of woes ; 
Man is a harp whose chords ekide the sight, 
Each yielding harnnony, dispos'd aright ; 
The screws revers'd (a task which if he please 
God in a moment executes with ease), 
Ten thousand thousand strings at once go loose, 
Lost, till he tune them, all their power and use. 

COWPETI. 

The Sim shone upon a new crder of things. At seven 
o'clock the intelligence of the demise of Paul spread 
through the capital. The interval of time from its first 
communication to its diffusion over every part of Peters- 
burg, was scarcely perceptible. At the parade Alex=an- 
der presented himself on horseback, when the troops, 
with tears rolling down their rugged and sun-brov/ned 
faces, hailed him with loud and cordial acciam^ation. 
The young Emperor was overwhelmed, and at the mo- 
ment of mounting the throne of the most extensive em- 
pire under heaven, he was seen to turn from the grand 
and affecting spectacle, and weep. 

What followed is of very subordinate consideration y 
but perhaps it will be eagerly asked, to what extremity, 
did the avenging arm of Justice pursue the perpetrators 
of the deed ? Mercy, the brightest jewel of every crown, 
and a forlorn and melancholy conviction, that the reign- 
ing motive was the salvation of the empire, prevented 
her from being vindictive. Never upon the theatre of 
life was there presented a scene of more affecting magna- 
nimity ; decency,' not revenge, governed the sacritice. 

P Z was ordered not to approach the Imperial 

residence, and the governor of the city was transferred 
to Riga. As soon as Madame Chevalier was informed 
of the demise ol her Imperial patron, she prepared, un- 
der the protection of her brother, a dancer, for Right, 
with a booty of nearly a mi) lion of rubles. A police of- 
ficer v^^as sent to inspect and report upon her property : 
amongst a pile of valuable articles, he discovered u 

T 2 



^g NOHTHEEN SUMMER. [Chaj. 15. 

diamond crose of no gre^ intrinsic value, which had 
been given by Peter I. to a branch of the Imperial Fami- 
ly, and, on that account much esteemed ; it was to re^ 
cover this that the ofiicer was sent, who obtained it, after 
the most indecent and unprincipled resistance on her 
part. Passports were then granted to Madame Cheva- 
lier and her brother. Thus terminated this extraordina- 
ry and itppresgjve tragedy. 



CHAPTER XV. 

^ir John Bar las€ Warreti^^The PoUgnacs-^The parade-^ 
The baneful effects of' passion — >The JE,mperor-^A pick- 
pocket — *A traveller's memorandutns-^Unpugilistic brui- 
sers^ — Doctor Guiherie— -Visit to the tauricla palace—^ 
The colossal hcdl — The ivinter gardens — The banquet'-— 
Prince Poteinkin-^-^Ranv carrots — Plyijig gardetiS'—^The 
house of Charles XII. at Bender discovered. 

IT was impossible for an Englishman to visit Peters- 
burg when I did, without feeling a justifiable national 
pride in finding his country represented by one of her 
jnost distinguished naval heroes, who, to the frankness 
^nd bincerity so peculiar to that character, unites the 
graceful attractions of the most courteous and polished 
manners. From the intrepid minister, and his elegant 
and enlightened lady, I experienced that urbanity and 
attention, which eminently distinguished their conduct, 
and endeared them to the Russian court and to their 
countrymen. The Emperor, in his private circles, lias 
often extolled the nautical skill and undaunted valor of 
Sir John Borlase Warren, and honored him with his 
friendship. In no period of those political storms whicli 
have so long shaken, and still continue to convulse, the 
continent of Europe, has the cabinet of Russia manifest- 
ed a more propitious and cordial disposition to the cause 



Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 22a 

and interests of Great Britain, than during the diplo- 
macy of the gallant Admiral. 

The house cf embassy, a noble mansion, in the Eng- 
lish line, was fitted up with great taste, and the hospi- 
tality which prcA^ailed in it M^as truly Pussian. The 
parties which assembled there were very select and 
agreeable. Amongst the most frequent visitors I met 
the Due de Polignac and several of the members of that 
illustrious house, who, from the highest rank, and an in- 
fluence equal to that of their sovereign, have been cast 
into the regions of the north, by the terrible tornado of 
the French revolution, where, in the sensib.ility and mu- 
nincence of the Emperor, they have found protection. 

The noble fortitude of the Polignacs, and particularly 
the heroic and affecting eloquence of one of the brr-thers 
before the tribunal of Bonaparte, created at this period a 
strong sensation in the public mind, and in no part of 
the world more forcibly than at Petersburg. In another 
age, when passion and prejudice shall repose in " the 
" tomb of all the Capulets," the calm investigating his- 
torian may perhaps, but in better language, describe 
their crime, as I have ever considered it, a conspiracy of 
Bonaparte against himself, to enable him to assume the 
imperial purple. 

Sunday is always at Petersburg a day of great festivi- 
ty, but it only manifests itself after the hours of devo- 
tion. On this day the parade is well worthy the travel- 
ler's notice : it commences at ten o'clock, in that great 
area which liesbetvreen one side of the winter palace and 
the magnificent crescent, which formerly constituted 
the palace of Catherine's most cherished favorite Lan- 
skoi ; the men amounted to four thousand, and present- 
ed a very noble and martial appearance ; their uniform 
consisted of a round hat, Vv'ith only a rim in front, and 
green feather, a short green coat, buttoned tight round 
the body, and white duck breeches cut very high, so that 
no waistcoat is necessary. The belly of the soldier is 
tightly strapped in, for the purpose of giving an artificial 
breadth to the chest. With an exception to the English 
and consular guards, I never saw finer men in my life, 
nor greater neatness in dress and person. The Emperor 



224 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. 

came from the palace, mounted upon a beautiful grey- 
charger, attended by two or three officers ; he wore an 
amazing large cocked hat, fastened under his chin by a 
biak leather strap, and buttoned to prevent the wind 
from occasioning that accident, for which a cruel disci- 
plinarian (Frederick the Great) once severely flogged a 
poor Prussian soldier. The rest of his dress was a 
short coat of dark olive-green color, decorated with a 
small star and the cordon blue, white leather breeches, 
and high military boots, with very long projecting spurs. 
Upon this occasion there is always a great concourse of 
the commonalty, and a great muster of officers to pay 
their respects to the Emperor, who rode at an easy canter 
down the line. As he passed I was much surprised to 
hear each company salute him with deep-toned voices, 
and highly gratified when I was informed that the salu- 
tation was, " Good day to our Emperor." The words 
^eemed to bring down the haughty disdain of military 
discipline to its proper level, and to place the hearts of 
the Emperor and his brave soldiers in contact with each 
other. Upon his return he alig;hted and took his station 
in the centre, when the regiments passed the Emperor, 
i^pho stood uncovered all the time, in open order, the 
band playing and officers saluting. As the imperial 
colors passed, which time or war, or both, had reduced 
to a few shreds of silk, all the officers and spectators boAV- 
ed. As the last comp?tny was marching off the ground, 
a lane was formed to the palace through the people, who 
gazed upon their young Emperor with enthusiastic de- 
light. The whole was a very interesting spectacle, for 
which by the bye I had nearly paid rather dearly. Think- 
ing, perhaps, that I was far removed from the nimble- 
fingered disciples of London, or what is more likely, not 
thinking about the matter, I carelessly carried my pocket- 
book to the parade : a common Russian had for some time, 
it appeared, watched me with a cat-like eye, and at the 
moment the Emperor passed me, he affected to relieve 
me from the pressure of the mob, and at the same time 
really endeavored to relieve meof my letter of credid, some 
ruble notes, and what I fear the critics will wish I nevef^ 
had recovered, many of the memorandums from which 



Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 225 

I am now writing. A German valet, belonging to a gen- 
tleman who was with me, instantly seized him by the 
throat ere his hand could leave my pocket, when he as 
speedily relinquished his prey. The attempt was made 
with a skilful knowledge of seizing op.fiortunities^ by 
which some folks become wealthy, others imficrial^ and 
the dexterity and lightness of his finger would have ob- 
tained a medal of felonious honor in the academy of 
Barrington. However, as I lost no property by the fel- 
low, I ordered the active servant to dismiss him ; and 
the terrified Russian rushed rapidly from my sight, and 
was lost in the surrounding crowd. 

The Russian is not naturally addicted to thieving : he 
is seldom seen in hostility to life, in order to obtain the 
felonious possession of another man's property. A rare 
instance of what however may be committed in an ebul- 
lition of passion, occurred at the preceding pai^ade. An 
officer, in consequence of very improper behavior, was 
put under arrest ; in the bitterness of wounded pride, he 
slew the centinel who was placed at his chamber door : 
the Emperor, instead of dooming him to death, ordered 
him to receive twenty -five strokes of the knout, to be 
braiided in the forehead with ~vor^ or rogue, and be sent 
to Siberia. 

As I was quitting the throng, two fellows, somewhat 
tipsy, began to quarrel ; and, after abusing each other 
very violently as they walked along, they at last pro- 
ceeded to blows. No pugilistic science was displayed : 
they fought with the hand expanded, as awkwardly as 
women play at battledore and shuttlecock ; no desperate 
contusion ensued. A police officer soon appeared, and, 
taking out a cord from his pocket, tied the combatants 
back to back, and placing them upon a droshka, gallop- 
ped them off to the nearest sieja. The police of Eng- 
land would do well to act with the same spirit and promp- 
titude towards those academic bruisers, who, in the most 
daring manner, violate the public tranquillity, and bid 
defiance to the authority of the law. 

A short time before my arrival, an affair, which in 
some degree illustrates the Russian character, had crea-^ 
ted Qonsiderable interest. A gallant English merchaiit 



2m NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. IS^ 

conceiving himself ruddy treated at the theatre by a^ 
Russian officer, one of the Emperor's aid-du-caraps, sant 
him a challenge. The officer declined the combat^ and 
aqptpealed to the Emperor, which, according to the cus- 
tom of his country, he might do without abstain upon 
his courage. Those martial notions: of honor, which 
reign so imperiously in England and France, are but lit- 
tle known in'Russia,'where the feudal system, the judi- 
cial combat and its chivalrous concomitants, never ob- 
tained, and where the sword never forms, and never has 
formed, a necessary appendage to the dress of the peo- 
ple, which, till lately, has forages been worn amongst 
their brethren in more southern latitudes. 

It was with great pleasure that I availed myself of an: 
introduction to the venerable Doctor Guthrie, physician 
to the Noble Land Cadet corps, a gentleman of the most 
amiable manners, a philosopher, and well known to the 
world for his various scientific and literary productions, 
and particularly for being the editor, as he has modestly 
jumounced himselfj of the Letters of his deceased lady 
from'the Crimea, whither she went, but in vain, in search 
of health. It is very generally believed, that the Doctor 
very largely contributed to this able and be<iutiful work, 
which from fondness to the memory of the departed^ h© 
is: anxious should be considered as her own. 

I found the Doctor protected, by his philosophical know- 
ledge, from one of the most sultry days I ever experi- 
enced. He was in a little study built of wood, raised 
upon piles in a little meadow. Instead of his summer 
windows being open to admit the air, they were all clo- 
sed and fastened without ; his servant occasionally mois- 
tened the branches of the trees, that were suspended 
over the building, wilh water from a garden-engine ; and- 
to prevent, as niuch as possibicj the admission of the 
flies, the entrance was through an outer door, and an 
inner one of gauze, and in the centre of the room stood 
A tub filled with ice ; by these means the Doctor, whilst 
every other person was languishing and panting with 
heat, enjoyed a cool and delightful atmosphere. His col- 
lection of Siberian minerals^ gems, and precious stones 
(amongst which is a beautiful ribbond agate) from vm» 



€hap. 15] NORTHERN SUMMER. ;2?r 

ous parts of the Russkn empire, and a variety 6f marine 
fowls from the Russian archipelago, are very curious and 
interesting. I here saw a fine specimen ofthe encou- 
stic, or wax -painting, the art of which was discovered ^ 
few years since in Herculaneum, by a soldier accidental- 
ly holding a flam[beau to an apparently naked wall, when 
the action of the heat created, to his astonishment, a 
beautiful landscape, by reviving the encoustic color in 
which it had been painted. The Doctor also obligingly 
shewed me an opera which was composed by the late 
Empress, in which, with great poetical spirit and genius, 
she has described tlie founding of Moscow, and the hab- 
its and customs of the Russians. The words of many 
of the songs were adapted to old Russ tunes, and others 
were set to music by Sarti. Of this Imperial production 
only four copies were ever printed ; as soon as they were 
struck off, the press, the types of which were made at 
Paris, was broken. Independent of his merited reputa- 
tion, the Doctor has two other reasons sufficient to make 
any philosopher provid and happy: he is the father of 
two lovely daughters ; the eldest is lady Gascoigne, who 
to the charms of youth and beauty, unites the most ele- 
gant accomplishments and captivating manners. So 
high was report in her favor, and so little can she be 
known with impunity, that I felt a sullen satisfaction in 
learning that she was upon a visit to her friends in Scot- 
laml whilst I was at Petersburg ; the other daughter is 
a lovely girl, pursuing her studies in the Convent des 
Demoiselles. 

On account of his long and faithful -services, the Doc- 
tor was ennobled by Paul, who- always retained a great 
partiality for him, even during the temporary disgust 
which he felt against his countrymen : he is honored with 
a hat and feathers, and the rank of a general. It is scarce- 
ly necessary for me to observe that, in a military govern- 
ment like Russia, military rank precedes every other. 

From Doctor Guthrie's cool philosophic shade, we 
proceeded to the Taurida palace, built by Catherine II., 
and given by her to her distinguished favorite Prince Po- 
temkin, upon whom she lavished unprecedented digni- 
ties and treasure. Si>e bestowed upon him the name of 



1828 NORTHERN SUMMER. IChap. 15. 

the Taurian, in honor of his conquest of the Crimea, and 
called this building after him. Upon the death of the 
Prince, the Empress purchased it of his family for a vast 
sum . The grand front of this buildin g, which is of brick, 
istuccoed white, is towards the street leading to the Con- 
vent des Demoiselles, in the east end of the city, consist- 
ing of a centre, adorned with a portico supported by co- 
lumns, and a large cupola of copper painted green, and 
extensive wings. A variety of out-offices, orangeries, 
and hot-houses, reach from the left wing to a prodigious 
distance : in the front is a court -yard, divided from the 
street by a handsome railing. The exterior of this build- 
ing is very extensive, but low ; and although it has a 
princely appearance, does not excite the astonishment 
that a stranger feels in entering it. Through the civility 
of our countryman, Mr. Gould, the Emperor's gardiner, 
who enjoys a munificent salary, and a handsome house 
on the west side of the gardens, I was frequently enabled 
to visit this delightful place. The kitchen, fruit, and 
pleasure-gardens, and hot-houses, occupy a vast space of 
gromid, which are watered by several canals ; over one 
.of them is thrown the celebrated model of a flying cover- 
ed bridge of one arch, which an obscure illiterate Russian 
constructed, for the purpose of embracing the two sides 
of the Neva, opposite to the statue of Peter the Great : 
it is about seventy feet long, and is a v/onderful display 
of mechanical ingenuity. This extraordinary peasant 
has clearly elucidated the practicability of such a meas- 
ure : the model is capable of bearing more comp irative 
weight than could ever press upon the bridge itself. The 
enormous expense which must atlend ' such an undertak- 
ing will, in all probability, reserve it for a distant peiiod. 
The ingenious artist received a handsome pension from 
the late Empress, and the satisfaction of having displayed 
with what extent of capacity, unassisted Nature has gift- 
ed the P».ussian mind. In this part of the grounds Cath- 
erine II. w&s in the habit of taking her morning prome- 
nade with a male friend ; and in the evening attended by 
her court. 

The pleasure-grounds are small, but beautifully laid 
but by Mr. Gould, who was a pupil of the celebrated 



Ghap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 229 

Browine ; and who, at the advanced age of seventy-two 
:f-y'ear&, beholds this Utile paradise, which he created from 
a- mephitic bog, flourishing and exciting the admiration 
of foreigners, and in the shade of which Potemkin, Cathe- 
rine the Great, and two succeeding Emperors of Russia, 
have sought tranquillity and repose from the oppressive 
w^eight of public duty. 

This respectable Englishman, who has realized a hand- 
some fortune, the fruit of imperial munificence, for long 
services, keeps an elegant and hospitable table, and is vi- 
sited by persons of the first respectability. The late un- 
fortunate king of Poland, during his residence, or rather 
incarceration, in Petersburg, felt a melancholy pleasure 
in quitting the phantom of royalty^ v/hich mocked rather 
than consoled him, in the palace of Siberian marble, to 
pour the sufferings of his afflicted mind into the breast of 
the frank, cordial, and ingenious Englishman, in this 
abode of privacy. 

The pleasure-grounds are very elegantly disposed, 
and, as we passed the little green palisade v/hich separates 
them from the kitchen garden, we contemplated, with 
pleasure, the favorite seat of Catherine the Great that 
here presented itself : it v/as a long, tasteful garden so- 
pha of iron, interlaced, painted green, and stood under 
the branches of an oak. Here she used to take her coffee ; 
and, upon this very seat, she gave private and unrestrain- 
ed audience to the late King of Sweden. I am enabled, 
from indubitable authority, to state, that the age of Cath- 
erine v/hen she expired was seventy- five, although three 
years are taken from it in the calendar. 

As we descended a little slope from Catherine's seat, 
we passed by two birch trees, revered by the superstitious 
Russians, on account of their having been, with a third 
of the same species, preserved, when the morass in which 
they grew w^as first converted into a garden, and the ve- 
getable patriarchs of the place : we were gravely tslcl 
that, when Paul died, the one vrhich is missing perished 
from excessive sensibility, I never knew before, that na- 
ture had endued the birch with acute feelings : I remem- 
ber, at school, it was admitted, nem. con. that it had the 
power of exciting them. 

U 



^50 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. 

The first Toom we entered from the garden, was the 
celebrated hall in which Prince Potemkin gave the most 
gorgeous and costly entertainment ever recorded since 
the days of Roman voluptuousness ; I am not able to 
communicate to my readers the ideas which this enor^ 
iiious room excited. If a pagan were to be transported 
into it in his sleep, when he awoke he could not fail of 
thinking that he had undergone an apotheosis, and had 
been conducted to the banqueting-room of Jupiter. It 
was built after the unassisted design of Poiemkin, and 
untesj to a sublime conception, all the graces of finished 
taste. This prodigious room is supported by double 
rows of colossal doric pillars, opening on one side into a 
vast pavilion, composing the winter-garden, which I saw 
prepared for the Emperor, who resides here for a short 
time every year, just before I left Petersburg. This 
garden is very extensive : the trees, chiefly orange, of an 
enormous size, are sunk in the earth in their tubs, and are 
entirely covered with fine mould : the walks are gravel- 
led, wind and undulate in a very delightful manner, are 
neatly turfed, and lined with roses and other flowers : the 
whole of the pavilion is lighted by lofty windows : from 
the ceiling depend several magnificent lustres of the 
richest cut glass. 

Here, whilst the polar winter is raging without, ccver^ 
ing the v»-orld in white, and hardening the earth to mar- 
ble ; when water tossed in the air drops down in ice ; 
may be seen the foliage, and inhaled the fragrance, of an 
Arabian grove, in the soft and benign climate of an Ital- 
ian spring. The novelty and voluptuous luxuriance of 
this green refreshing ^spectacle, seen through a colonade 
of massy white pillars, and reduplicated by vast mirrors, 
is matchless. Between the columns, now no longer in- 
cumbered with boxes for spectators as they formerly 
v,^ere, are a great number of beautiful statues and colos- 
r.al casts : the two celebrated vases of Carrara marble, 
the largest in the world, occupy the centre of the room 
leading to the winter-garden. The Dying Gladiator, 
Cupid and Psyce, a recumbent Hermaphrodite, and 
many other exquisite productions of the chisel, aftord 
Sample gratification to the man of taste. Amongst the 



Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 231 

busts, is that of the Right Honorable Charles James 
Fox, by Nollekens ; an admirable likeness of that dis- 
tinguished orator. Paul, during his temporary aversion, 
to the English, ordered this bust into the cellar : wheth- 
er he intended that his spleen should carry the marks of 
some humor, I know not. His august successor re- 
moved it from the region of the Tuscan juice, and the 
depths of darkness, and ordered it to occupy its present 
station, where by the side of Grecian and Roman virtue, 
the sun of heaven shines full upon it. Opposite to the 
winter-garden is a beautiful salooh, divided from the hall 
only by the colonnade, which is filled with rare antiques, 
principally busts* Amongst them a head of Achilles, ard 
a small Silenus, are justly regarded as the most precious. 
During the darkened hours of Paul, he converted this 
palace into a garrison ; and the hall, pavilion, and saloon, 
into a riding-school for his troops ! 

The rest of the rooms, which are upon the ground 
fioor, have been elegantly hut very simply fitted up by 
the present Emperor, and all their gorgeous hangings, 
furniture, and decorations, have been removed and de- 
posited in magazines. In one of the rooms there is a set 
of superb lustres, every drop of glass in which may be 
set in motion by clock-work, concealed in the centre, 
when it presents the appearance of a little cascade. The 
theatre, which has been much reduced, is still sp?.ci3U3 
and very handsome. 

It may not be uninteresting to give a very brief des- 
cription of the entertainment which I have before al- 
luded to, as I received it from Mr. Gould, who con- 
tributed his talents to augment the rich variety of that 
resplendent festival : Soon after Prince Potemkin's re- 
turn from the conquest of Crim Tartary, under the in- 
fluence of a gloomy prepossession that it would be the 
last time that he should have it in his powder to pay due 
honor to his imperial benefactress, he resolved upon 
giving a banquet, which, in modern Europe and Asia, 
should have no parallel. What the expenses attending 
it amounted to, were never known, but they must have 
been prodigious. For several months previous to the 
gala, the most distinguished artists were invited from 



a52 :N0RTHERN summer. [Chap. 15, 

distant countries to assist in its completion. The grand 
outline was designed by the Prince, and so various as 
well as vast were the parts, that not one of the assistants 
could fornn any previous idea of the whole of it. In the 
general bustle of preparation, the following anecdote, 
that proves the natural taste of Potemkin's mind is re- 
lated : He had ordered a statue of Catherine to be form- 
ed of alabaster, which he intended should be raised upon 
a pedestal, in a temple of precious stones, in the winter- 
garden ; for the motto upon its entablature he wrote : 
^' To the mother of my Country, and to me. the most 
^ gracious." In his design, the artist had extended the 
liand and elevated the sceptre, in the formal style of our 
Queen Anne's appearance in wax-work : the critical 
eye of this Prince, although he has been termed, and in 
iiome instances justly, a splendid barbarian, in a mo- 
jnent perceived the deficiency of grace in the attitude, 
and ordered the sceptre to be inclined : the artist retired 
to another room in chagiin, and exclaimed, " This great 
" savage has more taste than I have, who have been 
'• brought up in the lap of the Arts." Upon giving 
another direction the artist stared, and remonstrated up- 
on the enormous sum vv'hich it would cost : " What I 
" Sir," said Potemkin, " do you affect to know the depth 
*' of my treasury I Be assured it stands in no need of 
" your sensibility." After which his orders were obeyed 
without any reference to expenditure. 

Nothing could exceed the public sensation which this 
-fete excited. At length the evening arrived when the 
Prince was to appear in all his pomp and glory, before 
his fond and adored sovereign. The walls of these 
splendid apartments were most richly and beautifully 
illuminated, and decorated with various exquisite trans- 
parencies ; and the stairs, hall, avenues, and sides of the 
rooms were lined with officers of state, attached to the 
household of the Prince, and servants, in the most costly 
dresses, and magnificent liveries. The orchestra ex- 
ceeded six hundred vocal and instrumental musicians, 
and announced the entrance of the Empress and her 
court, richly attired, by a grand overture and chorus, 
which reverberated through the colonnades and saloons. 



CHAr. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. '233 

Potemkin conducted his Imperial visitor to an elevated 
chair glittering with gold and diamonds : midway be- 
tween the columns were boxes gilt with pale gold, and 
lined with green silk, filled with spectators in gala 
dresses. The festivity commenced with a dance of 
youths of both sexes, habited in white, and covered with 
pearls and jewels, at the head of v\?hom were the present 
Emperor and the Grand duke Constantine his brother. 
After the dance, and the most costly refreshments, the 
party repaired to the theatre, at the other end of the 
palace, where an occasional piece, composed in honor of 
the Empress, was performed, in which all the powers of 
singing, acting, dancing, dress, scenery, and decorations, 
were displayed. Upon the conclusion of the drama, the 
audience rose, and as if impelled by magic, the benches, 
touched by springs, moved and formed into tables and 
little seats, which were almost instantaneously covered 
with the richest viands, served \ip in gold and silver. 
The curtain again rose, and discovered a hall of mirrors, 
from which descended globular lustres of crystal, and a. 
table appeared covered with the rarity of almost every • 
region, splendidly served in gold ; and at the head, up- 
on a throne gikled and glittering with precious stones, 
sat the Empress surrounded by her court, the most 
brilliant in Europe. Sucli were the arrangements in 
this place, that every one could see and be seen. In the 
colossal hall were spread tables filled with delicacies and 
the most costly wines, and at the head of it was a pro- 
digious massy cistern of solid silver, containing sterlet 
soup, which is said alone to have cost ten thousand 
rubles. During this splendid repast, in every room the 
softest music was heard, which rather enlivened than re- 
strained the current of conversation. Universal deco- 
rum and hilarity prevailed ; every wish was anticipated, 
every sense was gratified, 

The banquet was followed by a succession of magnifi- 
cent exhibitions, and the Empress did not retire till mid- 
night. As she proceeded to her carriage, it was observed 
that she appeared much affected by the homage which 
had been paid to her, encreased, perhaps, by the tender 
remembrance of departed hours ; and as she turned to 

U2 



>I234 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15, 

bid the Prince adieu, she could scarcely support herself: 
at this touching moment, Potemkin fell upon his knees, 
and covered her hand with his tears and kisses : it was 
destined that he should never more behold her under 
that roof, and his mind seemed to be fully possessed of 
the idea. A short time afterwards, as he was proceedijig 
from Yassy to Nicol?def, he was seized with a violent 
cholic, which it is supposed was produced by his singu-i- 
lar irregularities ; he alighted from his travelling car- 
riage, supported by his nieces, with difficulty reached a 
bank on the side of the road and expired in their arms. 
His remains were interred with magnificent honors, at 
Cherson, on the banks of the Dnieper, and a splendid 
mausoleum was raised to his memory by the order of" 
her Czarian majesty. 

The dislike which Paul ever bore towards- Potemkin,, 
principally on account of his being the favorite of his 
imperial mother, induced the Emperor during the dread-^ 
ful subversion of his mind, to order the body of the 
Prince to be raised and exposed, and the miausoleum de-- 
stroyed. A lady whom I met, and who was obliged, 
during this fearful period, to take refuge in the Crimea, 
beheld the ruins of the tomb, and. the remains of the 
Prince exposed to the birds of the air. 

To what trifles do many persons owe their eleva-- 
tion : Potemkin was indebted for his honors and for-- 
tunes to 2ifcather. In the revolution which gave the late 
Empress sole possession of the throiie, she appeared 
at the head of the Ismaiiof guards, when Potemkin, a. 
young officer in the cavalry, perceiving that she had no 
feather in her hat, as she appeared on that momentous 
occasion en militaire^ rode up to her and presented his.. 
This extraordinary man experienced, in early life, a dis-- 
appointment of the heart, which so frequently forces the 
mind out of its proper sphere, and unsettles it for ever. 
Potemkin rushed into the fi-c'^d of battle, and in search of 
death obtained glory. The cruel fair one still rejected 
him, notwithstanding his scars and honors, became vio- 
lently smitten with an ugly old man, v.hom she mar-, 
yied, and hated for ever after. 



Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2S5- 

Potemkin very frequently refused to pay his trades- 
men : it is said that a very celebrated French veterinary 
professor went from Vienna to Petersburg, for the pur- 
pose of curing a beautiful charger, that had been pre- 
sented to the Prince by the Emperor Joseph H., and 
which was so ill that the medical world of Petersburg 
had given it over. The Professor built a stable for the 
animal upon a particular construction, and after the most 
incessant attention succeeded in restoring it to health. 
When the horse-doctor waited upon Potemkin with 
the joyful news, and expected to be profusely paid for 
.the heavy sums of money which he had expended, and 
for his time and skUl, he was forbidden the sight of the 
Prince, never could see him afterwards, and never was 
paid : yet notwithstanding these occasional acts of avari- 
cious dishonesty, and although his property was estima- 
ted at nine millions of rubles in cash, forty-five thousand 
peasants, besides two pensions, one of seventy-five thou- 
sand rubles, and another of thirty thousand rubles, for 
his table, such was his prodigality that he was frequently 
embarrassed. In winter he used to wear a muff of the, 
value of one thousand pounds. 

In one of the Prince's journies to the Crimea, Mr. 
Gould attended him, being at that time his head garden-^ 
er, and v/as preceded by several hundred assistants.. 
Whenever the Prince halted, if it were only for a day, 
he found his travelling pavilion raised, and surrounded 
by a garden in the English taste, composed of trees and 
shrubs, raised, and carried forward as the cavalcade pro- 
ceeded^ and divided by gravel walks. Yet, strange to 
relate, amidst this Asiatic pomp, whilst the subordinate 
attendants fared upon every dainty that wealth could 
purchase, the poor Englishman, whenever the Prince 
rec^uested him to travel in his carriage, which frequently 
occurred, was obliged to put up vfith the most homely 
fare, which Potemkin, always irregular and eccentric, 
generally preferred. At a sumptuous entertainment, 
where every rarity of epicurism invited the appetite, 
the Prince has been known to order a raw qarrot, or tui" 
nip, and to dine upon it.. 



=236 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16. 

I must relate the following little anecdote, and then I 
have done with Potenikin. One day, in the course of 
their journey, they halted at Bender, in Bessarabia, 
where, whilst the Prince was alone at dinner, Mr. G. 
rambled about the neighborhood, for the purpose of 
discovering the scite, or remains, of the house of 
Charles XII. of Sweden, in which, on the twelfth of Feb- 
ruary, 1713, he and a few followers madly bade defiance 
to the whole Ottoman army, after having been repeatedly 
and earnestly entreated to leave the dominions of the 
Grand Turk. After a diligent search, with the assist- 
ance of some of the natives, the English gardener dis- 
covered the nuns which the eccentric spirit of the Swe- 
dish King had rendered so interesting, and exultingly 
returned to the Prince with the intelligence, who ex- 
claimed with liberal joy, "the English discover every 
" thing,** immediately proceeded to it ; and, after re- 
garding its remains with a very lively sensation, ordered 
the house to be repaired, and partly rebuilt, and a gar- 
'den to be constructed roundit, which were accordingly 
"4one, as a monument of his respect for the- conqueror of 
Narva. 



Chap. 16.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2# 



CHAPTER XVI. 

English ground in Ruasio'-^A'ational baths — 4 new sect » 

Horj customs vary — A panacea-— -Visit to the Kmfieror^s 
' greatest favorite— 'A recipe for revolutionists — Wild 
dogs-— 'The marble church and pasquinade— -Academy of 
art-^A traveller's civilizing idea—A row to Kaimnenol 
Qstr off— ^Delicacy and gratitude— -•Bravery and generos* 
ity of Gustavus III. to his bargeviarh—An elegant and 
gHucful compliment-r^-'Bussian jrnisic—Ita effect upon 
Italian ears and co-ws—^Forest en fire. 

DURING my stay at Petei^sburg, I paid several visits 
to the country houses of the English merchants on 
the Peterhoff road, where they live in great elegance. 
In the gardens of one of them, I trod with delight upon 
British ground : an ardent love for his country had indu* 
ced the hospitable owner, at a great expense, to bring a 
qiiantity of English ballast from British ships to cover 
his walks wii;h. Every garden is furnished with large 
swings, capable of holding two persons standing and one 
between, sitting. Of this dive r:.ion the Russians are 
very fond. As I was roving in my friend^s grounds I ~ 
heard the cry of seme hounds in an adjoining kennel, 
belonging to a Russian nobleman : the nobility are very 
fond of the sports of the field. The gentlemen of the 
English factory have a regular pack and sporting estab- 
lishment at Garrella. Having assumed a tolerable shab- 
by dress, no difficult thing for a. traveller at any time to 
command, for the purpose of qualifying ourselves for 
the approaching scene, and to prevent the suspicion of 
improper motives ; we proceeded to the great national 
bath on a Saturday, vrhich seems to be a purifying day 
every where. 

After passing over a raised wooden path-, by the side 
of a long vrooden v/all, we halted at a house built of the 
same materials, which formed the grand entra.nce. 
Here, upon paying five copecs a-piece, from a hole in a 
dark shed, or magazine of birch rods with the leaves on, 
a band poked out one of them to each of us, which we 



238 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16^. 

took, without at the time knowing for what purpose they 
were to be used. On the entrance on each side were 
stalls of black bread, little pies, quass, and liqueurs. In 
the first court we beheld me'n and women indiscriminately 
mingled together, in a state similar to that which prece- 
ded the slightest notion of breeches and waistcoats. 
They were arranged like so many hounds in a dog-ken- 
nel, upon benches tier above tier, where they were 
wringing their beards and combing and plaiting their 
hair. In the middle of the yard was a jet d*eau playing 
into a great wooden cistern ; as the bathers came out of 
the vapor-room, red and reeking with heat, they ran to 
this tank, and filling a bucket with cold water, raised it, 
and threw it over their heads. When these baths are 
near a river they plunge .into it, and in the winter roll 
themselves in the snow. 

I opened the door of the vapor-room, in which I could 
not continue above a nainute, and in that time a profuse 
perspiration came over me. The room was capacious^ 
women and men were piled one above another amphithe- 
atrically ; the vapor which filled the room, and gave it 
the atmosphere of a digester, was produced from water 
being t4iroAvn upon a great number of heated stones, 
sonme of them red hot. In this place, to assist the cause" 
of perspiration and washing, they exchange the little 
tender and delicate ofiees of flogging, soaping, and rub- 
bing each other down. The Russians in this, as well as 
mtany other customs, bear a strong analogy to the Gre- 
cians. These scenes, such is the effect of habit, are 
seldom productive of libertinism, even amongst the na- 
tives ; to every foreigner they cannot fidl to be offensive 
and repulsive. If a painter wishes to delineate a Ve- 
nus, or even any part of the figure, let him not go to a 
Russian bath for a model. My curiosity was soon satis-^ 
fied, I visited no other part of the building, and right 
glad vv^as I to quit this disgusting scene. These bath?, 
iiowever, which are to be found in every village, prove 
that the Russians are naturally clean. After these ablu- 
tions, clean shirts and shifts are put on for Sunday. 

It is highly interesting to observe how nations differ 
from each other in their customs, and how frequently 



Chap. 16.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 239 

they reverse them. As we are upon the subject of bath- 
ingT^ cannot help mentionmg that, as I was walking 
with some English ladies in the Summer Gardens one 
evening, I saw about sixty men and women enjoying 
themselves in a small canal which runs from the Neva 
to the Michaeleski palace. Public as this spectacle was, 
there seemed to be the most perfect innocence amongst 
all the parties. One man was very desirous that I should 
see how well his wife could swim ; and a Polish servant 
i,n waiting said, with great naivete, to pne of our Eng- 
lish ladies, (a very amiable and sensible woman, in whose 
service he was,) " Madam, there is a fine seat there," 
pointing to one upon the side of the water, " where 
" you can have an excellent view, and see the manner in 
" which the Russians swim." Their manner is some- 
what curious ; they swim as if a dog had taught them. 
As I was one day walking by the side of the canal which 
runs before the Opera-house, I saw two young, and I 
think I may add, modest women, seeking shelter from 
the sun in the limpid stream. The forms of these Musi- 
doras did m.ore honor to their sex, than any which I had 
hefore seen. 

The Russians beat all the doctors hollow. Tjiey hare 
one simple (I know not if certain) cure for every de- 
scription of disease, viz. two glases of brandy, a scourg- 
ing and soaping in the vapor-bath, and a roll in the Ne- 
va, or snow. 

The smile of the sovereign has an universal influence ; 
if you are well at court, it is well with you every where. 
Impressed with this truth, I resolved to visit the great- 
est favorite of his Imperial Majesty. As his sagacity 
was extraordinary ; as he paid no consideration to ex- 
terior himself, nor minded it in others ; and, moreover, 
£^s his residence was in the neighborhood of the bath, I 
made up my mind to avail myself of his liberal notions, 
and seek an audience without returning to my hotel, a 
distance of three miles at least to change my dress. Al- 
though, with respect to the appearance of his visitors, 
he was very accommodating, yet I found him, like all 
courtiers, inaccessible without a bribe ; and accordingly, 
the hcnor of being introduced to him cost me something, 



240 NORTHERN SUMISIER. [C^af. 16. 

it is useless tmw to say; what. Was it not singukr ? 
Upon entering his apartment, which v/as very lofty, I 
found him heavily ironed by one leg, and guarded ; yet, 
strange as this appeared, I was rejoiced to find, for his 
character stands very high, that he was not in disgrace. 
The personage I am speaking of was his Majesty's ele- 
phant, who was at least eleven feet high, and, like his Im- 
perial master, majestic, yet gracious ; and though fear- 
fully armed with power, most discreet and gentle in its 
use. Kis establishment consisted of a faithful Persian, 
who received and repaid his affections. 

In the ground behind the elephant's apartment, we 
saw some Caimuc sheep grazing, distinguishable from 
the same species of animals in other countries, by a vast 
bag of hard fat which grows from the rump. As I was 
returning from his elephantic majesty, a friend of mine 
pointed to a Russian who was crossing a bridge, and in- 
formed m.e that some years since he was one of the lead- 
ing characters of a sect, whose tenets extended eternal 
rewards of happiness to those who, crossing the great 
design of God in creating man, deprived themselves of 
the possibility of becomingthe fathers of families : against 
the sprerding fanaticism of these miCnstroas visionaries, 
which aimed at the radical extinction of society, Cathe- 
rine II. directed a prompt and decisive blow; those of 
its wretched and deluded followers who are known, are 
branded, vvherever they appear, with public derision. 

Catherine putxlown a sect still more formidable, and by 
the follovving v/himsically wise manner, saved her people 
from the baneful contagion of French principles. Du- 
ring that revolution, Vv'hich portended ruin to all the sa- 
cred establishments of all nations, when in England Pitt 
trampled out the brightening embers, and saved his 
country from the devouring flames, a group of mischie^ 
vous emissaries from France arrived at Petersburg, and 
began, in whispers amongst the mob, to persuade the 
poor droshka driver, and the ambulatory vender of honey 
quass, that thrones were only to be considered as stools, 
and that they had as much right to sit upon one of them 
as their Empress : Catherine, concealing her real i^p- 
Prehensions, availed herself of the powers with v/hiclv 



CttAKl6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 241 

«h€ was clothed, without shedding a drop of blood. She 
knew lidicule to be, m able hands, a powerful weapon j 
and resolved to wield it upon the present occasiori. 
One evening the police officers were ordered to seize all 
these illuminated apostles of liberty, and bear them away 
to the lunatic asylum, where the Empress had directed 
that their heads should be shaved and blistered, and 
their bodies well scoured by aperient medicines, and kept 
«n meagre diet ; this regimen was continued for four-* 
teen days, when their confinement terminated. The com- 
mon Russians had heard of their fate, and really believ- 
ing that they had been insane, neglected and deserted 
them upon their re-appearance in the city with shorn 
heads, hollow eyes, and sunk cheeks, and all the strik- 
ing indications of a recently bewildered mind. If this 
mild and ingenious project had failed, Catherine would 
have let loose all the energy of power, and for this pur- 
pose she rapidly caused to be built that vast edifice, now 
used for the marine barracks, v/hich she destined for a 
state prison. 

The transition from revolutionists to wild dogs is very 
simple and natural. About three versts on the left hand 
side of the Zarsko Zeilo road, is a Wood infested with 
these animals. To this place dead horses, and ail the 
rank garbage of the city, which a Russian stomach can- 
not relish, are carried. These doga never aim at p.rose^ 
iytism, and are never seen beyond the boundaries of their 
thicket. 

Having thrown aside our bathing dresses, We went to 
the palace of Saint Pvlichael, Where, as I have related, the 
last Emperor perished. As Paul had expressed so much 
aversion to the imperial mansions in which his mother 
delighted, I felt a curiosity minutely to examine a palace 
of his own creation. In addition to what has been before 
observed, the whole of this enormous pile was Kiiilt by 
an Italian, of red Dutch brick, which at a distance has an 
animating appearance, upon a basement of he^vn granite, 
that resembles a foundation of rock. The grand entrance 
from the great perspecUve through the riding-room and 
offices, is very handsome. Upon the architrave is written 
in Russ charactei^, as it was translated to me, the follow- 

W 



242 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16. 

ing singular motto : " May my house endure like the 
*' Lord's." The Russians observe, with their accustom- 
ed superstition, that the number of letters of this inscrip- 
tion correspond with the number of Paul's years, and that 
out of them an anagram may be composed, denoting that 
he who raised the building would perish by a violent 
death. The interior is vast, but very gloomy. The cham- 
bers which were shewn were stripped of their furniture 
and all their moveable decorations, which are lodged in 
the cabinet of jewels, but the ornaments which remained 
exhibited a style of costly magnificence ; the doors, some 
of which were of various-colored glass, and richly gilded, 
were uncommonly superb. We saw the room in which 
the unfortunate Sovereign perished, and his private stair- 
case before mentioned. All the rooms, except those 
which were used for state, are occupied by persons be- 
longing to the court ; amongst others Mr. Cameron, the 
imperial architect, has a superb suite of apartments, those 
which w^ere formerly occupied by the present Emperor 
and Empress before they ascended the throne : in one of 
which is a fire-place which had been encrusted with jew- 
els. To the taste and genius of this gentleman, Russia 
is indebted for many of her beautiful architectural ob- 
jects. 

From the palace of St. Michael, we went, by a special 
appointment and permission, obtained after much trouble," 
to the Academy of Arts, and in our way stopped at the 
marble church of St. Isaac, which was erected, but not 
finished, by the late Empress : it is entirely built of Si- 
berian marble, porphyry, and jasper, at an immense cost, 
has a vast copper dome gilded, and is the most magnifi- 
cent place of worship in Petersburg ; yet, after all, it has 
a very sombre appearance without. 

The late Emperor, disgusted, as I have already ex* 
plained, with every thing which had engaged the care 
and regard of his Imperial mother, raised in ridicule a 
little tov/er of brick, covered with a small dome, on the 
west side of this temple. During the calamitous state 
of his mind, an indiscreet wag affixed to the door of the 
church the following pasquinade, in Russ verses : " To 
Paul the First, Emperor, &c." 



Ghap. 16.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 243 

"in Tnarble should thy nciother's mem'rv shine ; 
In perishable brick ^nd plaster thine." 

The writer paid dearly for his wit ; he was discovered, 
knouted, had his nostrils torn, and was sent to Siberia. 
Upon the accession of the present Emperor, application 
Was made by his friends for his release, which was gran- 
ted, and a miserable miutilated wreth was restored to 
those who could with difficulty recognize him. 

The interior of this building is truly magnificent, be- 
ing entirely composed of the most precious Siberian 
marble. Near the altar was an elegant pulpit, the only 
one that I saw in any of the Greek churches : it was 
built by the orders of the late Empress, who was desir- 
ous of enlightening her people in their faith by devotion- 
al discourses. 

The Academy of Arts is an enormous pile of quad- 
rangular brick building, in the Vassili-Ostroff. In the 
/council-roomi we were shewn a beautiful golden medal 
of the head of Paul by the present Empress dow^ager, 
which at once proves the taste of her mind, and the pow- 
erful affections of her heart. In the hall of statues were 
a great number of fine casts from the antique, particu- 
larly a beautiful one of the Belvidere Apollo : the ori- 
ginal, in the Imperial Museum at Paris, afforded me the 
greatest delight I ever experienced in contemplating any 
work of art, and v/hich I greatly preferred to the Lao- 
coon. Amongst the pictures was a perfect and precious 
piece of painting, in fresco, from Herculaneum. 
As we passed through a suite of roonas, in which the 
youngest class of students, from the age of eight or nine 
years, were drawing (all of whom, as well as the rest of 
the pupils, are clothed, educated and maintained, at the 
expense of the crown), we saw some promising w^orks 
of art ; but, strange to relate, they were principally con- 
fined to the younger artists : the tree looks healthy to- 
wards the roots, but weakens as it spreads. I could not 
help observing, that most of the adult students were oc- 
cupied in painting whole and half length likenesses of 
the Emperor, in his regimentals, instead of attending to 
the works of the ancient masters, several of whose pro- 



S44 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 10. 

ductions adorn their ^leries. The Almighty Disposer 
of the Universe has limited nations, as well as individuals^ 
to their proper share of his beneficence. Whilst he has 
determined that the vine of the Tyrol shall never bend 
-with its luscious grape upon the shores of the Frozen 
Sea, he seems to have allotted a more benign region to 
Painting, and to have preclude<l her from wandering far 
in the north. To the Russiajri that god has been bounti- 
ful -.—.but Russia has never yet sent an illustrious painter 
into the world -.-^t may be too confident to say she never 
will. 

In the hall of architecture ^vere some exquisite mo- 
dels : many in cork of Roman ruins ; the principal 
were a prodigious one of St. Peter*s at Rome, which en- 
tirely filled a large room ; its dimensions admitted two 
of us to stand under its dome, and another of the kazan^ 
In the hall of statuary we saw several students at their 
occupations, who displayed considerable ability : there 
were here some beautiful casts, from Canovre's statues, 
many of which are in Prince Usupoff*s gallery. The 
adjoining rooms to this were for the accommodation of 
the engravers and medallists. 

The late Empress lavished enormous sums upon this^ 
institution, which, if it does not ultimately reach the per- 
fection of similar establishments in more genial climates, 
will at least have the merit of having made some advance- 
ments. After the profuse magnificence of Gathering, 
and the thoughtless waste of the imperial treasure du- 
ring the short reign of his disasti'ous predecessor, Alex- 
ander has most judiciously confiaied himself to a cautious 
and scrupulous expenditure. Russia is unquestionably 
muci^ indebted to the genius and spirit of the late Em- 
press •, but it was impossible that extended civilization 
could be the fruits of her costly culture. In raising mag- 
nificent palaces, she raised so many monuments to her 
memory, which at ^ixsx surfiri&ed the coifnmon Russian,, 
but WQ\tv informed him ; and, in doing so, she too much 
neglected the cottage. If I dare intimate the spot where, 
in such a country, the spiiit of civilization should com« 
mence her operatians, I would point to the hovel of fell* 
ed tveesj where the smoke issues through the same UqIo 



Chap. 16.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 245, 

which admits the light : ameliorate the domestic economy 
of rude and abject nature. Take care of the peasantry : 
the higher classes are pretty nearly the same all over the 
world. The reverse of this plan will ever present the 
hideous spectacle of a voluptuous and yidovis nobility, and 
of a people corrupt before they are refined ; or, in the 
language of a shrewd observer of mankind, " rotten ere 
" they are ripe." As far as my observation and. infor- 
mation extended, I should conceive that the civilization 
of Russia would be rapidly promoted, after the removal 
of that most frightful and powerful of all checks, sluvei^ij^ 
by improving the farms, by establishing colleges for the 
education of those who are destined to the priesthood, 
by reducing the number of holidays, by instituting re- 
wards for menial integrity at the end of a given period, 
and by preventing parents fi'om betrothing their female 
children before the age of copsent, and cQptra,vy to their 
will. 

The day when we visited the palaces before describee! 
being remarkably fine, Captain Elphinstone, of the Rus- 
sian navy, proposed a visit by water in his barge to. 
Kammenoi Ostroif, a little seat, and the favorite vesi-' 
dence of the Emperor, about seven versts from the city. 
The bargemen v/er.e very fine fellows, clean sliaved, and 
dressed in clean shirts. As we rowed round the islands^ 
formed by the Petrovka, branching from the Neva, my 
gallant friend gratified me, by relating the foUov/ing an- 
ecdote of the delicacy and fortitude of Catherine's mind. 
After the battle betv/een the R.ussian and Swedish fleets 
off Cronstadt, in May 1 790, Captain Elphinstone, then 
a very young lieutenant, was dispatched by his uncle, 
Admiral Creuse, to Catherine, who was at that time at 
the palace of Zarsko Zello, with an account of the suc- 
cessful manoeuvres of her fleet. For four days and 
nights preceding the Empress had taken no rest, and 
but little refreshment, the greater part of which tim^e 
she had passed upon the beautiful terrace near the baths 
of porphyry ; listening, with the greatest anxiety, to the 
distant thunder of the cannon, which was so tremendous, 
that several windows in Petersburg were broken by its 
concussion. It is said, that anticipating the last disaster 

W 2 



246 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16. 

her horses and carriages were ready to convey her to 
Moscow. Young Elpainstone arrived at the palace late 
at nig-ht in his fighting clothes, covered with dust and 
gunpov/der, and severely fatigued with long and arduous 
duty. His dispatches were instantly carried to the 
Empress, who ordered her page in waiting to give the 
bearer refreshments and a bed, and requested that he 
might on no account be disturbed. The gallant messen- 
ger availed hiinself of her graciousness, and " Tir'd Na» 
" ture's sweet restorer, balmy sleep 1" never quitted his 
eye-lids till the dawn had far advanced, during which 
period Catherine had sent three times to see if he v/ere 
awake. At length Captain Elphinstone in all his disha- 
hille^ was conducted to her presence by her secretary, 
when she commenced an enchanting conversation, in 
which she complimented the gallantry and many naval 
achievements of his family ; and after proceeding upon 
various topics for about half an hour, she said, calling 
him " my son,'* " Now" let us proceed to business : I 
" have received the dispatches, which have afforded me 
" infinite satisfaction ; I thank you for your bravery and 
" zeal ; I beg you will describe to me the position of the 
" ships," which, as Captain E. explained, she indicated 
vdth her pencil upon the leaf of her -pocket-book ; ^nd 
as she gave him her orders to the Commander in Chief,. 
she presented him with a roleau of ducats, a beautiful 
little French watch, and, although very young, promoted 
him to the rank of Captain. 

It was during this battle that the Swedish monarch 
behaved with his accustomed distinguished gallantry : 
As he was rovring in his barge, and giving his orders, in 
the thickest of the battle, a shot carried away the hand of 
the strokesman, and at this moment a small Russian 
vessel of war, discovering the King, bore down upon 
him ; the brave and generous monarch, seeing the ac- 
cident which his poor bargeman had sustained, and his 
own personal peril at the same time, calmly took out 
his handkerchief, and bound it over the wound, then 
leaped on board one of his gun-boats, and miraciilously 
escaped, by that good fortune v/hieh never favors little 
minds, at the instant T^hen his barge was boarded by the 



Chap. 16.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 247 

enemy, the cushions of which were preserved in the 
apartment of Captain Elphinstone, in the miarine bar- 
racks, as trophies of war and of humanity. 

A short time after the Swedish fleet had retired, the 
gallant and venerable Admiral Creuse, who commanded 
the Russian fleet, paid his respects to his sovereign. 
Owing to the corpulency of the Admiral, the narrow 
plank floor of the presence-chamber shook with his 
weight, which the hero remarked with some little hum^or, 
to Catherine, when she turned this trivial circumstance 
into the follov/ing beautiful compliment : — ^" My brave 
" Creuse, wherever you go you make the earth shake 
" under you, and your enemies tremble." As we 
rowed along we passed several national baths, from 
which the people precipitately issued in a stream of per- 
spiration, and plunged into the river. They regard 
these transitions from extreme heat to extreme cold as 
conducive to an invigoration of the frame. As we turn- 
ed up the little Nevka, we saw several beautiful country 
houses and grounds : the chateau of Count Narishkin 
was of this description ; it had a centre, surmounted by 
a vast copper dome painted green, and very extensive 
wings upon a ground floor ; a flight of steps led to the 
principal entrance, shaded from the sun by a vast pro- 
jecting awning of canvas ; the whole edifice was 
built of wood, and painted of a light yellow. Several 
elegant yachts and pleasure barges with gay streamers 
floating green houses and baths, were moored before it ; 
the whole had an Asiatic appearance. A superb plea- 
sure barge with twelve rowers, covered with a rich 
awning from stem to stern, passed us, in w^hich was a 
lady of rank, and a little yellow humpbacked female 
ideot, v/ho had the good fortune of being htr fiet ! The 
Russian nobility, whether for whim, genuine compassion, 
or superstition, I know not, are uncommonly fond of 
these little, sickly, shapeless, blighted beings : uniting 
man to monster, and apparently formed by Heaven to 
mock the proud presuming nature of those whom he 
has made after his own image. The imperial chateau 
is small, has a terrace in front towards the water, and a 
wood behind : 51s the Emperor vz-as here we did not at- 



24a NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16. 

tempt to see the inside of it, but I understand most of 
the rooms are for use and comfort only. The Empress, 
"vvho is one of the most amiable and the shyest being that 
ever wore a diadem, hurries with delight from the gaudy 
tumult of a court, to veil herself in the tranquil shades 
of this sequestered place ; and the Emperor exhibits 
the same love of privacy. Is there no moral in their 
choice ? Does it not point to the spot where only genu- 
ine happiness is to be found ? 

We went on board one of the imperial yachts, a beau- 
tiful vessel, the state room of which was most elegantly 
fitted up. Soon after leaving Kammenoi-Ostroff, we 
passed Count Stroganoff's gardens, which are prettily 
laid out, and embellished with the customai'y decorations 
of hillocks, rustic temples, artificial rocks and waterfalls. 
The Count very liberally opens his garden gates on Sunday 
to the public, wiien the walks are very much crowded, and 
resemble ) but in miniature, those of Kensington gardens. 
Upon our return, we rowed against the stream of the 
Neva a considerable way, and floated down with it, for 
the purpose of enabling our boatmen to take in their cars, 
»nd afford us a specimen of Russian vocal music. They 
first faced each other, and sat very close together, and 
upon a signal being given, the leader sang a little song 
alone, which, upon his striking a tamborine^ all the 
party, steadfastly gazing upon each other, joined In, and 
although their voices at a distance frequently produce an 
agreeable harmony, such was the shrillness on the pre- 
sent occasion, that I could not help thinking the con- 
clusion of the song by far the best part of it. When 
Captain E. was lying in his frigate a few years since off 
Palermo, he invited a party, in which were two Italian 
princesses, to a marine breakfast, during which the latter 
requested to be indulged with a native Russ chorus, the 
fame of which had reached them ; the sailors, who 
were assembled round the cabin light, commenced their 
national song before their faii' auditors expected it, who, 
terrified at the screaming sounds v/hich issued from the 
strained throats of these untutored warblers, instantly 
raised their hands to their ears, and implored Captain E. 
to St*"' """ ; but, convulsed with laughter, and over- 



Chap. 16.} NORTHERN SUMMER. S4a 

powered by the din of the chorus, he was obliged to let 
them make a natural finale. When they had stopped, 
Captain Elphinstone said, " Now, ladies, will you have a 
" little more ?'* ^' Not for the world, my dear Captain, not 
*^ for the world, Ave are quite content,*' was the uniyersal 
cry. 

Whilst I Avas upon a visit at the house of my much 
respected and hospitable friend John Venning, Esq., I 
used generally to be awakened by a cow-keeper, -collect- 
ing, Orpheus-like, his cows together, by a. very long 
pipe, from which he produced some strains by no meaus^ 
unpleasing. The dress and attitude of this fellow, Vvdth, 
his instrument in his mouth, resembled very much some, 
of the figures which I have seen upon Etruscan vases.. 
For two or three days, v/hilst the wind was northerly, 
we were much annoyed in the city by a dense smoky 
atmosphere, arising from a large forest, which had been, 
burning for several days, about thirty versts from Peters- 
burg : to prevent the spreading of this terrible confla- 
gration, two regiments were marched tp the spot, who, 
after great exertion, by felling trees and digging treu- 
ches, succeeded in impeding its progress. Accident^ 
of this kind are attributed to the reaction of intense- 
beat from the rock, upoa thQ dry m.os§ which is fre= 
quentjy fouiid upon it. 



250 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 17. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Court clock — Winter palace.^ hermitage — Players aud gov* 
err.mcnt carriages^— ,Conve7it des Demoiselles-— ^Instability 
of fortune— ^Generosity in a child-— The Joundling hos- 
pital. 

N order to observe engagements with punctuality, it is 
liecessary that a traveller's watch should be set by the 
clock of the winter palace, which is the sun's vice-re- 
gent in Petersburg, and is certainly more sovereign than 
that of the Horse-Guards in London. I learned this 
piece of important information, as I proceeded "with a 
party of friends to the Hermitage ; not the matted cell 
of an anchorite, but a magnificent modern palace built 
by the late Empress, and connected by a light elegant 
gallery with an enormous mass of building, called the 
v.tnter palace, built of brick stuccoed, and consisting of 
a basement floor, a grand and lesser story, supported 
"with Doric columns, and adorned with balustrades, and 
an immense number of statues, many of which are said 
to be excellent, but as they are associated with tlie chim- 
nies, their beauties are not discernible to gazers on the 
ground. This pile was built by the En>press Elizabeth, 
is grand from its magnitude, but very heavy ; within 
its w^alls are many courts, galleries, and passages, and 
stair-cases without number. In the winter it requires 
fifteen hundred stoves, or as the Russians call them 
pitchkas, and the resident English, peeches, to warm it. 

What could induce Cathenne to call one of the most 
costly and elegant palaces in Europe by the name of the 
Hermitage I cannot imagine ; not more preposterous 
would it be to hear Windsor Castle denominated the Nut- 
shell. Its situation on the banks of the Neva is very 
beautiful ; the apartments are still magnificent, although 
much of their rich furniture has been removed, and are 
embellished with the Houghton and other choice collec- 
tions, to which artists have free access to copy. One 
room was entirely filled with some of the finest produc- 
tions of Vemet ; there is also a great number by Teni- 



Chap. 17.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 251 

ers. Upon the same floor with the picture galleries, 
which, with the state-rooms, occupy the second story, is 
a spacious covered winter garden, filled with orange trees, 
and foreign singing birds, opening into- a summer gar- 
den upon the top of the palace, in which there is a beau- 
tiful long gravelled walk, lined with shrubs and large 
graceful birch trees, whose roots I should think must 
have for some time threatened to make their way through 
the ceiling of the drawing-rooms below. The whole is 
adorned with statues, elegant garden sophas, and tem- 
ples, and on each side are magnificent galleries. In the 
cabinet of curiosities I was much pleased with a faithful 
aiid exquisite model of a Russian boor's farm-house in 
wax. In the music-room adjoining to this are some large 
and admirable pictures, by Sneyder, representing fish, 
fowl, and fruit. In the cabinet of jewels there is a rich 
display of all sorts of jewelry ; and amongst others, un- 
der a grea,t glass case, are the celebrated mechanical pea- 
cock, owl, cock, and grasshopper, of the size of life, 
which was made in England, at a vast expense, and pre- 
sented by Potemkin to the late Empress. The machine- 
ry is damaged : the cock, mounted on a tree of gold, 
no longer crows, nor hoots the owl, nor does the pea- 
cock spread his tail, at the expiration of the hour, but 
the grasshopper still skips round to denote the moments. 
This animal is nearly the size of his more animated 
brethren in Russian Finland, which are said to be an inch 
and a half long. There were also several ivary cups, 
the fruits of the ingenuity of Peter the Great, whose 
versatility w^as such, that apparently with equal ease, he 
could bend from the founding of cities, leading ai^mies 
into the field, and fighting battles, to building boats, turn- 
ing wooden spoons and platters, and carving in ivory. 
Raphael's hall, one of the galleries running paralled with 
the garden, is superbly painted and decorated, and has 
a fine collection of minerals : its inkdd floor is uncom- 
monly rich and exquisite. 

I searched in vain for Sir Joshua Reynolds's celebrated 
Infant Hercules, purchased by the late Empress for the 
Hermitan,-e. Upon enquiry I found that it had been re- 
moved into a private apartment below, and was seldom 



^e^ NOHlTMERN SUMMlER. 3[Cha>. If . 

^hewn ; the reason assigned was, that the Rtrssians have 
a superstitious horror of death, and that as the subject 
'was the strangling of the serpent by the infant god, it 
"was on that account unpopular. Upon onv return 
through the rooms, we went to the court theatre^ con- 
nected with the Hermitage by a gallery over an arch, 
%hich crosses a cut of water from the Neva to the Moika 
canal. The space before the curtain is filled with seats 
rising amphitheatrically, and the whole, without being 
large, is elegant. The performers were rehearsing at 
the time : afterwards as we were quitting the palace, my 
curiosity was excited by a number of Imperial coaches, 
presenting a gradation of qualities ; some were tol- 
erably good, some shabby and others very old and crazy, 
to which m^ust be added a V"ery long vehicle, such as is 
used in England for conveying wild beasts, having four 
horses abreast, all drawn up before that part of the pal- 
ace where the theatre is situated. Upon the conclusion 
of the rehearsal, the players descended : the tragedians 
and genteel comedians occupied the better carriages^ the 
lov/ comedians the more ancient and defective ones, 
and the cboruK-singers, to the amount of about thirty, 
skipped into the long coach, and were all driven to their 
respective homes. These machines are kept for the sole 
service of the players. 

Not far from the Hermitage, and upon a line with it, 
is the magnificent palace raised by Catherine II. for 
Gregory Orloff, and afterwards allotted, by the iate Em- 
peror, to the last of the Kings of Poland : it is built of 
grey Siberian marble, and adorned with columns and pi- 
lastres of the same stone, of a brown and reddish color. 
The balustrades of the balconies, and the frames of th^ 
windows, are of brass richly gilded. All the splendid 
furDiture and moveable decorations have been removed, 
and the whole is now occupied by persons belonging to 
the court. 

In consequence of the gracious orders of the Em- 
press Dowager to that effect, we visited a very interest- 
ing institution under her immediate protection, the Con- 
vent des Demoiseilcs. This Imperial seminary, which 
has no equal in Europe, contains three hundred and 



GHAP/ir.l NORTHERN SinViMER. 253 

seventy -two young ladies cf nobility ; and two hundred and 
forty daughters of citizens. There is also another institu- 
tion under the same roof, called that of Saint Catherine, 
in which there are one hundred and eighty eight chil- 
dren, of the inferior orders of nobility. The age of admis- 
sion is six years. The noble young ladies are taught Ger- 
mau, French, Italian, drawing, music, dancing, geogra- 
phy, embroidery, and every other elegant pursuit. 
The daughters of the bourgeois are instructed in what is 
useful alone, and can conduce to their making good 
tradesmen's wives. Their genius, or bias of mind, 
wlien-ever it can be ascertained, is -always consulted in 
their pursuits. The building is like a great town ; it 
was ioTvaQvlf occupied by the monks of Smolnoi, who 
have been removed to accommodate much more useful 
and lovely members of society. In th-e centre is a vast 
neglected church, surmounted with a dome in the centre 
of four small cupolas, all of copper gilded. This edifice 
forms a venerable and prominent feature in the city. We 
were received at the grand entrance by some of the offi- 
cers attached to the establishment, in full uniform, a 
dress whidi is worn by all male persons belonging to 
Imperial institutions, on account of the gov erniuent be- 
ing military. We wei'e first conducted to the kitchen, 
where we saw and ta^sted a sample of the day's dinner, 
consisting of excellent soup, boiled beef, vegetables, and 
pastry. The young ladies are divided into classes of age, 
and distinguished by brown, blue, and green and. white 
dresses. In the first school v/e were presented to her 
Excellency Madame Adlerberg, the directress of the 
convent, wlio appeared, decorated with the order of Saint 
Catherii^, a lady of great beauty and elegance of deport- 
ment ; her mind and character were explained by the 
siniies and looks of affection which every where attended 
her, as wfe proceeded through the schools. In the sick 
room there were only three patients, who were most 
tenderly attended by the proper nurses : the name, age, 
disorder, and treatment of the invalid, is inscribed upon 
a little tablet fixed over her head to the back of the bed. 
The dormitories were remarkably neat, and even ele- 
gant. Some of the little girls surnrised us by the 

X 



254 NORTHERN SU.MMER. [Chap. 17. 

excellence to which they had attained in drawing. 
In the Greek church belonging to the convent, we 
were attended by the priest in his full robes, who 
shew^ed us a magnificent cup of gold studded with 
jewels, used in devotion^ the w^ork of the Empress dow- 
iiger. 

The mortality among the children is very inconsider- 
fible ; upon an average only two die annually out of eight 
hundred, unless after filling up of several vacancies, oc- 
curring at the same time, when the children admitted 
from the provinces sometimes bring diseases with them. 
In the blue class we saw an instance of the mutability of 
fortune, in a little girl about eleven years of age, the 
Princess S' the grand^daughter of the late King of 

Poland. In the dispersion of the family she was left des- 
titute. Her mother, in a frenzy produced by the de- 
thronement of her father, threw her son, a child, from a 
balcony into the street, and dashed out his brains. This 
orphan relic of an august and most unfortunate family, 
w as saved from actual want by the humanity and feeling 
of the Princess Biron, with whose daughter she is edu- 
cated in the convent. Tlie young Princess Bivon, in the 
blue dress of her class, underwent an examination in 
French and writing in our presence, and acqmtted herself 
with infinite credit. In the green and white class, where 
the eldest young ladies are, we were entertained with 
some very delightful Russ and French airs and cho- 
ruses, accompanied by the harpsichord. 

In the institution of Saint Catherine, under the di- 
rection of Madame Bredkoff, an elderly lady of distin- 
guished talents, and sweetness of disposition, the fol- 
lowing little circumstance occurred, which will prove 
that the Russian mind, whatever may have been said of 
it, is susceptible of feeling and generosity. In this in- 
stitution, which is supported by the Empress dowager, 
a limited number only of young ladies are admitted, free 
of expense, by ballot ; but others are received upon pay- 
ing, as it is termed, a pension. At the last admission, 
two little girls, the eldest not exceeding ten years of age, 
the daughter of a naval captain, who in this country is 
noble, the father of a large family presented themselves, 



Chap, ir.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 255 

and drew, the one a prize, the other a blank. Although 
so young, they knew that fate had, in this manner, re- 
solved upon their separation ; they felt it, and wep'. 
Another young lady, to whom the next chance devolved, 
drew a prize, and ' observing the distress of the sisters, 
without holding any communication with their parents, 
or with any other person, spontaneously ran up to the 
luckless little girl, presented her with the ticket, and 
leading her up to the directress, said, " See, Madam, I 
" have drawn a prize, but my papa can afford to pay the 
" pension, and I am sure will pay it for me : pray let 
" one who is less fortunate, enjoy the good that has hap- 
" pened to me." This charming anecdote was immedi- 
ately reported to the Empress dowager, who expressed 
the highest delight, and paid, out of her own purse, the 
pension of the little benefactress. 

An idea has gone forth, that when the period arrives 
for the fair pupils to quit the convent for the great thea- 
tre of the world, so many years of sequestration from it 
renders them totally ignorant, awkward, and that they 
enter society with little less .surprise than that which a 
man born blind, and suddenly restored to sight, would 
express on his first contemplation of objects. But this 
remark is completely disproved by the good-breeding 
and polished manners which the young ladies displayecL 
in the convent : in addition to which it may be observed, 
that every month, or oftener, they have a public and 
splendid ball, which is always crowded by people of 
fashion', their relations or friends, with whom, upon tliese 
occasions, they have unrestrained intercourse. At Eas- 
ter, and other festivals, by the order of the Empress 
dowager, they take a lide round the city to see the di- 
version of sliding down the ice-hills, or the various 
festivities incident to the occasion and season. The Em- 
press dowager takes great pleasure in visiting this in- 
stitution ; and whenever she appears, the young people 
crowd round her, to kiss the palm of her hand, as if she 
were their common parent. In other countries there 
may be institutions upon the same principle, but not one 
of the same magnitu<le ; there the sovereign thinks he 
lias discharged a splendid duty if he allot a sum of money 



%h& NORTHERN SUMT^IER. [Chap. IT, 

for its support, without seeing, to its appropiiatixjn, or 
cherishing the establishment by his presence ; but here 
JLhe Empress dowager, the Empress, and other branches 
of the Imperial family, are personally and actively as- 
sistant. When Madame Bredcoff was sent to Moscow 
to organize, an institution there, similar to that of St. 
Catherine's, the Empress dowager, during her absence, 
took possession of her chair, and discliarged ail her func- 
tions. 

It is with- great pleasure I metion another instance of 
the munificence of the Dowager Empress, in an estab- 
•iishment called the Institute of Marie, which is wholly 
•supported out of her private purse, and costs one thou- 
sand five hundred pounds per annum. In this seminary, 
which is under the able direction of Madame Luky, fifty- 
six girls are clothed, maintained, and educated in French, 
German, Russ, arithmetic, drawing, and embroidery. In 
the latter, the young pupils have attained to such a high 
state of perfection, that the state dresses of the Imperial 
family are frequently made by them. At eighteen, the 
fair eleves are provided with respectable situations in 
genteel families ; or married, w^hen a little dowry is pre- 
sented to them. The qualification required for the ad- 
mission of a pupil is, not that she should have interest or 
friends, but that she should be destitute sndfi-iendless J 
The whole resembled a large^ genteel, and happy fa.mi]y. 
When the money of an eraipire is thus expended, it is 
like the sun drinking up the exhalations of the earth, to 
return it in refreshing showers of dew. 
- By the same gracious order of the Empress dowager, 
we Avere admitted to the foundling-hotpital, one of the 
-most extensive aiid superb buildings in the residence. In 
this establishment, six thousand children, the offspring 
■of shame or misery, are received and protected. — Sub- 
lime idea! but let us examine whether the end of this 
great and benevolent design ia answered. The children 
are classed according to their age : in the fii'st ix)om were 
several little creatures v/ho had been left one, two, or 
three d^tys before, at the office of secrecy, where the 
wretched mother at night, if nature will admit, with a 
trcmbliiig hand rings the bell, resigns her child to a. por- 



Chap. 17.] NORTHERN SUMMER. SfS? 

ter, receives- a ticl^et of its number, and in agony retires. 
When we entered a large room where the nurses were 
suckling the infants, the result of our enquiry and obser- 
vation, in which I was much indebted to a very intelli- 
gent lady, who was herself a mother, and who accom- 
panied us, was that, although the nurses, generally the 
wives of boors, were examined by surgeons, and bathed 
upon their admission, yet many of them displayed the 
effect of invincible habit, and were very dirty, notwith- 
standing the greatest vigilance and care to keep them 
clean ; and, as many of them had nursed their own chil- 
dren seven or eight months before upon wretched fare, 
their milk was neither rich nor copious : a circumstance 
which was visibly proved, by the meagre and unhealthy 
appearance of the nurslings. The diiSculty of procuring 
an adequate number of nurses is great indeed ; and with 
a sufficient quantity of miik, utterly impossible. The 
mortality is very great : out of tvv^o thousand five hun- 
dred infants received the preceding yea?, five hundred 
perished ! The conclusion is plain. Whilst the prin-' 
ciple of this infant asylum is unquestionably propitious 
to libertinism, its present constitution and economy are 
imgenial to population. If this establishment v/ere up- 
on a smaller scnle^ it might possibly answer ; but, ex- 
tensive as it is, it seems to overstep iis object by too large 
a stride, and to countenance an opinion, that the cause of 
humanity and policy v/ould be more efficaciously pro- 
moted, even v/ere no other barriers opposed to infanti- 
cide than nature and the laws. We repeatedly observ- 
ed, that the boys did not look so healthy as the girls, 
which may be owing to the nature and hours of their 
labor being somewhat greater : indeed, eight hours toil 
is too much for boys of tender years. The gardens are 
very extensive : we there saw a recreadon which is a 
great favorite with the young Russians. A broad fiivt 
board, about eight feet long, was placed centrically 
over another of the same size and shape : a, girl, about 
fourteen or fifteen years of age, stood at one extremity 
of the upper board, and at the other end two smaller 
girls, who, by alternately springing up, tossed each oth- 
er to the height of five or six feet, from which they de- 



35^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 17. 

scended with uncommon skill and steadiness. A gentle- 
man of the party, at the great hazard of his neck, unsuc- 
cessfully endeavored to partake of the pastime. From 
the windows of the Foundling-hospital, in a sequestered 
part of thecity, we saw thetop of aprivate lying-in house, 
where only the patients and nurses are admitted, and 
the offices of tenderness and humanity are discharged, 
without curiosity, enquiry, or developement. 

I was very fortunate in being at Petersburg during th^ 
great causes of national festivity : the name-day, as the 
Russians call it, of the Empress dowager : and the nup- 
tials of one of her daughters, the Grand Duchess Ma- 
ria, a beautiful and amiable princess, about seventeen 
years of age, to the only son of the reigning prince of 
Saxe Weimar, a young man of twenty. It was the wish 
of the Empress dowager that these events should be. 
celebrated on the same day. This marriage, unlike the 
severe policy which state ceremony imposes on such oc~ 
casions in other countries,' had been preceded by a course, 
of attentions and tenderness for two years precedin^^ 
during which period the young Prince had resided with 
the Empress dov/ager? who v.isely thought with 
Shakspeare, that 

-" Marriage is a matter of more worth 



Than to be deah in by attorneyship 
For what is -wedlock forced, but a hell ; 
An age of discord and continual strife ? 
Whereas the contrary bringetli forth bliss, 
And is a pattern of celestial peace.'* 

On the third of August, N. S. I went with a party- oC 
friends to the V/inter-palace, the vast area before which 
Avas covered with carriages ; on our arrival we proceeded 
up the grand marble stair-case, through a suite of su- 
perb rooms, to an apartment of the foreign minis- 
ters, who were splendidly attired. In this room was 
the lady of the Biitish ambassador, who in her dress and 
person did honor to the magnificence and beauty of the 
British empire. All the rooms were uncommonly 
crowded with people in full gala dresses, and about one 
o'clock the procession moved from the Empress dowa- 



CjiAr. 17.} NORTHERN SUMMER. 2S9 

ger*s apai'tiiient : after a long Ii:ve of marshals and state 
ofiicers, vying with each other in the sp' ndor of their 
dresses, appeared the Emperor, in a plain suit of regi- 
mentals, leading the Empress dowager by the hand, the 
Empress, in a superb dress covered with diamonds, 
"walking by his side (the former ^ways takes the prece- 
dence of the latter, by an ukase of Paul) ; then followed 
the beautiful Grand Duchess, between the young Prince 
of Weimar and the Grand Ouke Constantine, in a bla^e 
of jewelry : upon her head was a crown of diamonds, 
upon her shoulders a long robe of crimson velvet lined 
with ermine, the train of which w^^as supported (and the 
intense heat of the weather called for all the support that 
could be afforded her) by scA^eral peers of high rank, and 
in her bosom she wore a most superb bouquet of flowers 
in diamonds; then followed the rest . of the . Imperial 
family, and a train of lords and ladies closed the whole. 
As they passed through the guard-room, which was lin- 
ed with a detachment of gigantic guards, it was amus- 
ing to see how these colossal images curled their stiff 
whiskers with delight as their Emperor passed. Whea 
the procession entered the Greek church in the palace, 
the priest and choristers commenced an anthem : the 
young couple stood upon a cloth of scarlet fringed with 
gold, whilst two officers of state held a crown on each of 
their heads, which part of the ceremony is observed to- 
wards the commonest Russians ; then walked three times 
before the altar, each holding a lighted taper, exchang- 
ed rings, and drank three times out of the sacramental 
cup, after which the Metropolitan exhorted them ; when 
he had concluded, the bride saluted the archbishop, and 
her family, and the procession returned. Upon the 
close of the ceremony a rocket was discharged from the 
granite terrace in front of the palace towards the Neva, 
when discharges of cannon announced the happy tidings 
to the people. About tv/o hours afterv/ards a splendid 
banquet, for the whole court, was served in the grand 
marble hall, a room, according to my own stepping, two 
hundred and fifty feet long, and about forty feet high, 
having arched galleries for the accommodation of spec- 
tators, at the end and on the side opposite the windows : 



260 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 17. 

the Imperial table was covered with vases of gold, filled 
"VTith the rarest flowers, pyramids of pines, and the finest 
ftiiits, elegantly aiTanged. Soon after the nobility were 
seated at the tables, which wei^e covered with every del* 
icacy, the grand master of the ceremonies made a buz- 
zing noise, when the greatest silence immediately follow- 
ed, the fbiding-doors opened, and the Imperial family en- 
tered, attended by a suite of state officers, and took their 
seats ; when the pages in waiting, richly attired, each 
having his right hand covered ^\ith a napkin, ser^^ed the 
imperial dinner : a noble band of music played, and sev- 
eral fine airs were sung by a distinguished singer, Avhich, 
on account of the vastness of tlie room and the frequent 
roaring of the cannon, were very imperfectly heard. 
When the Emperor rose and drank felicity to the young 
couple from a vase of gold, if my sight erred not, a tear 
bedimmed the eyes of the beautiful bride. During the 
banquet one of the pages, from excessive agitation, spill 
seme soup upon her robe, which she returned with a 
most gracious smile. In the hail where several running 
footmen who have the privilege of wearing at all times 
and in all places, their caps and feathers. With great 
difficulty we reached our carriage, through rooms crov/d- 
ed with cooks, and a great number of sailors in their best 
dresses, who, upon this occasion, were assistant scullions. 
Whilst we were at dinner at the hotel, we received 
a note from our ambassador, informing us that the Em- 
peror had appointed half past six o'clock in the evening 
for our introduction to him, previous to the ball : this 
honor, at such a time and on such an occasion, v/e were 
told, was against the usual etiquette of the Court, and 
therefore the more flattering. A short time before the 
Imperial family appeared^ the nobility retired from the 
room where the presentation was to take place ; the 
names of our party amounting to six, of whom four 
were English, Avere given to the Emperor by Count Sher- 
amatoif, who introduced us. Upon the folding doors 
opening, a procession similar to that in the morning 
commenced ; v/hen the Emperor approached us the 
whole halted, and the Count, calling each by his name, 
iotroduced us to the Emperor, the Empress dowager, 



Chap. 17.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 261 

and the Empress, by whom we were very graciously re- 
ceived. An Italian nobleman, who was presented with 
us, fell at the feet of the Emperor and endeavored to 
embrace his knees, v/hich the sovereign recoiled from, 
with a look that indicated how little a manly generous 
mind, likeliis, could be gratified with such servility. 
After this ceremony, the pi-ocession, which we followed, 
moved to St. George's hall : this magnificent apartment, 
more rich, though not so vast, as Potemkin's hall, is en- 
tirely gilded with various col©red gold, and illuminated 
by a profusion of richly gilded lustres : on each side 
were galleries crowded with spectators : on cither side 
of the grand entrance were two enormous mirrors, rising 
above some exquisite statues of alabaster ; and at the end, 
raised upon u flight of steps, stood the throne. As soon 
as the Imperial family entered, the band sti^uck up an 
exquisite polonaise, which is rather a figure promenade 
than a dance, the weather being too hot for such exer- 
cise : the Emperor led out the bride, and walked to the 
time of th« music, the rest of the Imperial family and 
the Court, amounting to about forty couple, following, 
lip and down the room, forming curves, and various oth- 
er figures. This recreation continued an hour ; a short 
time before it expired, I was introduced, through the fa- 
vor of Madame B , to the chambei' of the bride and 

bridegroom. In front of the bed, under glass covers, were 
the bride's jewels, and a service of gold presented to her 
by her august family, and a golden salver containing a 
loaf and salt^ which, according to the Russian custom, i^ 
presented by the Empress dowager to her daughter on 
the night of her marriage, just before she enrobes : it is 
intended to express her wishes, that as the connection be- 
tween parent and child is dissolved by marriage, she may 
never want the comforts of life. 

The bed v/as a state one, the robes-de-chambre of the 
Princess were placed on a stool on the right hand side^ .'\nd 
the slippers of the Prince on the left. Heavens ! thought 
I, what a strange country this is ! the postihions ride 
their horses on the wrong side, and the husbands sleep 
on the wrong side ; but the remark was no sooner made 
than removed : it does not accord with the dignity of the 



262 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. \7. 

empire that any Prince under Heaven should take the 
right of a Grand Duchess of Russia. Hymen had 
touched the tapers with his torch, and a band of merry- 
looking pretty girls, dressed in white, and adorned with 
flowers, were wailing to receive the happy bride, and let 
loose the virgin zone. As I quitted this bower of Eden 
I longed to leave behind me the following beautiful re- 
cipe for preserving love : 

" Cool as he warms, and love will never cool : 
Then drop into the flame a tear or two. 
Which blazing up like oil, will burn him through ; 
Then add sweet looks, soft words, some sighs, no pout^ 
And take my word the flame will ne'er go out." 

In the evening the city was magnificently illuminated : 
the house of British embassy shone with unrivalled ele- 
gance and splendor. As we rode up the Neva, after sup- 
per, we were uncommonly gratified by seeing the whole 
of the fortress, do^^n to the water's edge, illuminated, 
which presented a spectacle the most briliiajQt, and com- 
pletely novel, I ever beheld. Our bargemen again re- 
galed us with one of their musical yells^ the effect of 
which was encreased by the addition of two tamborines 
struck at randona. In the evening, after the nuptials, the 
Imperial family went to the opera, when the theatre was 
superbly illuminated, and the court scenes were display- 
ed, which presented the fi.nest specimens of scenic paint- 
ing I ever beheld. When the Empercr was about to 
leave his box, the people saluted him with the most en- 
thusiastic applause, with which he was visibly affected^ 



C«AP. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 263 



CHAPTER XVHI. 

j^Jifile feast"— ^Dog-killers i barrier against sivindling--^ 

Festivities of Peterhojf- — Horn musiC'-^A favorite bear —^ 
German theatre-— ^Visit to Cronstadt- — PHsoiv— 'Military 
punishment— -The inn — Or anienbaum-— Flying mountains 
—The v.alue of a bloody bear d-^Fasts^ famine andfLrm' 
ness. 

^Nthe sixth of August, O. S. the Feast of Apples 
comrnences, in which the common Russians fre- 
quently indulge themselves to such excess, that death is 
the consequence of their intemperance. And about this 
period the dog-killers, called Foornantshicks, go their 
rounds and destroy every dog they find unprotected by 
a. collar, containing the name of his master. This mea- 
sure, though apparently cruel, is very necessary : some 
\vinters past, before this regulation was m.ade, a number 
of fierce and voracious dogs assembled together in the 
gloomy ground which surrounds the Admiralty, and at 
night have been known to attack and devour passengers. 
As my time for quitting Petersburg dvew nigh, I sent 
my first advertisement, describing my name, age, and 
profession, to the imperial gazette office, in which it was 
necessary to appear three times before I could obtdn my 
post-horse order, without which it is impossible to stir. 
The object of this ceremony is to prevent persons going 
away in debt by giving timely notice to their creditors, 
and may be- accomplished in ten days ; or if a traveller 
is in great haste to depart, upon two householders of res- 
pectability undertaking, at the proper office, to pay all 
the debts he may owe, he may immediately depart. A 
foreigner may stay one month after the expiration of the 
first complete notice : if he exceed that period, he must 
advertise again. Immediately after the nuptials the 
court removed to Peterhoff, a country palace, about thir- 
ty versts from the residence, situate on the shores of 
Cronstradt Gulf, built by Le Blonde, where a magnifi- 
cent ball and illumination, in honor of the nuptials, took 



264 NOHTHET^N SUMME:R, CChap. 1«. 

place ; at Avliich nearly all the population of Petersburg 
were present. 

As we proceeded in a line of carriages, extending sev- 
eral miles, drawn by four horses a-breast at)d two before 
them, we passed a small but memorable puMic house, on 
the road-side, about eight versts from Petersbui'g, called 
the Krasnoi Kabac ; the first word meaning red, and the 
latter, as before related, a public house. It was at this 
house that the late Empress halted, when she was advan- 
cing against her husband, and slept for a short time upon 
the cloaks of her officers in one of the little rooms. Here, 
assisted by her then confidential and enth-usiastic fri&iad, 
the Princess Dashkoff, she consumed a great number of 
letters. We sdso passed the Holy Trinity hermitage of 
Saint Sergius, a small monastery surrounded by quad- 
rangular cloisters, having a church and three chapels. 
There is nothing in the building worthy of inducing a 
traveller to quit his carriage. A little farther on we saw 
the pabce of Strelna, a vast building of brick stuccoed, 
built upon piazzas, and surrounded with undulating 
woods and pleasure-grounds belonging to the Grand 
Duke Constantine, the heir presumptive to the throne. 

Upon our arrival we found therooms, which were fitted 
up in a style of ancient splendor, and richly illuminated, 
filled vvith persons of all ranks and conditions in their . 
best dresses, resembling a crowded masquerade, in which 
much of the costume of the empire was displayed. I was 
principally struck w^ith the wives of the bearded mer- 
chants, who vv^ere rouged, and w^ore a head-dress of mus- 
lin, resembling a sugar-loaf, entirely encrusted with 
large pearls, v;ith which their gowns wei'e trimmed, 
and ther stomachers covered. 

The illuminations were beyond any thing magnificent ; 
in front of the palace rolled a cascade of water, over 
various colored lamps, which had a very novel effect, 
into a great pond, which appeared to be in a blaze of 
light, from the sides and centre of w^hich grcupes of 
statues threw coiumns cf w^ater to a great heiglit ; a 
canal, more than a mile long, lined with side lights of 
various colored lamps, a glory at the end, and the impe- 
rial yachts illuminated in every part of their hull, masts, 



Chap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 255 

and rigging, stationed at a distance at sea, formed a 
brilliant and glowing coufi-d'ceil. Every avenue, and 
every part of these extensive gardens, were in a blaze. 
In a recess v/as a large tree of copper, and flowers of 
the same metal, painted to resemble nature, which threw 
water from every leaf, and produced a very pretty effect. 
In another part of the gardens we heard the celebrated 
horn music. Each performer can only produce one tone 
from his instrument, consequently the skill and attention 
requisite to play upon it in concert must be great. At a 
little distance the effect was very charming. A certain 
unfortunate class of miserables will hear with surprise, 
that the horn music is a necessary appendage to the cer- 
emony of nuptials of the least respectability. 

In Russia, marriages are generally effected through 
the agency of a third person. During the childhood of 
their daughter, the parents fix upon a husband for her ; 
a mutual female friend is sent to the gentleman with the 
proposals : if they are accepted, he presents the fair ne- 
gociatrix with a pelisse, according to custom. Many of 
the lower Russians married, as they frequently are, 
against their inclinations, make no scruple in taking their 
wives to such a scene of festivity as the one I have just 
described, and letting them out to prostitution for hire. 

In a corner of the grand saloon, in the centre of the pa- 
lace, I saw the Georgian court, composed of the Prince of 
Georgia, and two princesses of his house, and their reti- 
nue. The Prince was obliged to cede his country, a 
province of Asia, formerly belpnging to Persia and 
Turkey, to the Russian empire, from which he receives 
a pension. I saw no traces whatever of Circassian beau- 
ty in the Princesses : one was old, fat, and plain, and the 
other pale, hollow-eyed, and lean : the Prince had a very 
handsome and noble appearance. 

In one of the rooms are four celebrated pictures of 
Hackert, painted by order of Count Alexey Orloff, cele- 
brating the victory over the Turkish fleet commanded by 
the Capudan Pasha, the merit of which the Count un- 
justly assumed to himself, as I have before observed. 
"Upon the pahiter observing that he had never seen a ship 
«a fire, Orloff ordered a Russian seventy-four to be clear- 



266 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ISr, 

ed and burnt, to enable him to execute the subject with 
more fidelity. 

After the Imperial family, glittering with jewels, and 
resembling a stream of brilliant light, had walked several 
polonaises, in which the Empress was attended by a little 
dwarf in a Turkish dress, they mounted their laneekas, 
open garden carriages, resembling Irish jaunting-cars, 
and visited the gardens ; after which they sat down to a 
superb select supper under an awning, upon the top of 
one of the wings of the palace, at which I had the hon- 
or of being present. The guests were attended by about 
two hundred servants in full imperial liveries. At live 
o'clock we returned to Petersburg much gratified. The 
houses and gardens that line the FeterhoflT road are very 
beautiful. 

Being somewhat fatigued, I was glad to devote a great 
part of the day to sleep. In the evening I went to the 
German theatre, at the back of Lanskoi's palace, now 
the masquerade rooms : it vras a very gloomy place, and 
was feebly illuminated by asm^ll circular lustre descend- 
ing from the roof, and a strange transparent clock in the 
centre of the cornice over the stage. The canopy of the 
imperial box was covered with black dark green plumes, 
and had a very funereal appearance. The play was Pizar- 
ro, or as it is was called. Holla's Tod. When the old 
blind soldier enters, and during the time of his contin- 
uing on the stage, the sound of the distant battle was 
heard, which had an excellent effect. In all the close 
adherences to nature in scenic detail, so auxiliary to 
grand effect, the theatres upon the continent beat us hol- 
lo w^ The greatest tragedian of the present age, (I 
need not mention the name of Kemble) has, in his visits 
to the different parts of Europe, forcibly felt the 
truth of this remark, and is making rapid advances to 
correct the deficiency at home. 

The next morning early, a party of us carried into 
execution a plan which we had long projected, a 
visit to Cronstadt, having previously furnished ourselves 
with letters of introduction to som^e respectable inhabit- 
ants of the island. The day proved very beautiful, and, 
after passing several country-houses, before one of which 



Chap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 267 

was a rustic seat in the sjiape of a mushroom, abouteleven 
o'clock we quitted our carriages at a little English inn, 
in the village where the palace of Oranienbaum, or 
Orange Tree, is situated, about thirty -five versts from 
Petersburg, andproceeded to the canal opposite the pal- 
ace, where we hired an eight-oared barge, for which we 
paid eight rubles, and put off to the island, seven or eight 
miles from shore. Upon the sides of the canal men 
-were bathing and young women washing : the water of 
-the gulf was as fresh as that of the Neva. We were 
stopped at the Merchant's Mole, at Cronstadt, where a 
list of our names was demanded by a young officer, who 
gave us a great deal of trouble, which induced a young- 
German, of the party, who began to be a little impatient, 
to jump up and exclaim, " Vat de devil ! dus dat little 
" Russ mian take us all for screws ?'* he meant spies. It 
was at this spot, I was afterwards informed, that Peter 
III., in the ebullition of that revolution which, in a few 
days afterwards, elevated his Empress, Catherine II., to 
the sole possession of the. throne, and consigned him to 
-an untimely tomb,, presented himself in a yacht filled 
with terrified women, himself more terrified than they : 
and at the instance of t|ie brave and venerable General 
Munich, who was also on board, demanded admission 
into Cronstadt, which, had the unhappy Prince secured, 
he might have speedily turned the tide of affiiirs. " V/ho 
." are you ?" cried the centinel : " I am your Emperor." — 
•" We have no Emperor : if you do not put about, we 
" will blow your vessel out of the water," was the reply. 
— i'' Leap with me on shore," cried the brave and loyal 
Gudovitch ; " they will not fire upon you." The weak, 
irresolute sovereign refused, returned to Oranienbaum, 
and was soon afterwards dethroned and murdered. At 
length we were permitted to land. Cronstadt, which i 
said to be orje of the most healthy spots in Russia, deriv- 
ed its name ft om Peter the Great, and means Crov.i 
Town, or the crown of the new city, and is seven versts 
in length. Its population, including an yearly average 
of foreigners, is sixty thousand souls. On the southern 
side of it is a little island called Cronslot. " Ships drawing 
rjnore than eight feet water are oblig^ed to discharge tliei? 



268 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 18. 

cargoes at Cronstadt, which are sent up in lighters to Pe- 
tersburg. 

The town is one verst long, and well drained, by the 
indefatigable ingenuity of Commodore Greig, and has 
several churches, amongst which is an English one : 
there are also a custom-house, and several other public 
buildings. After having, English-like, oixlered a good 
dinner at an inn, whose appearance little accorded with 
the excellent entertainment which it afforded, we pre- 
sented our letters, and a very intelligent gentleman at- 
tended us over the town. In the dry -docks, which are 
very spacious, and faced with granite, we saw several fine 
ships, particularly one which the Russians preferred, 
built by an Englishman. In the streets we met several 
groups of convicts, returning from the public- works to 
their prisons, wretchedly clad, and heavily ironed ; many 
of whom had iron collars, with long handles round their 
necks : the allowance of these unfortunate wretches is 
black bread and water, and half a copec a day. In their 
hours of relaxation they make boxes, and other little 
matters of utility, the sale of which alleviates their ex- 
treme poverty. 

At night I slept at a private house, the servant of 
which was a very intelligent little deformed Greek : his 
head and body were of the ordinary size, his legs and 
thighs not higher than those of an infant, which made 
him look like a man running upon castors. This dwarf 
was a living monument of pride triumphing over drun- 
kenness, as one poison frequently expels another : being 
frequently seen in liquor, the sailors and inhabitants used 
to turn him into ridicule, which he felt and reformed. 
This house, like every other in Russia, was truly hos- 
pitable, and was guarded by some ferocious dogs, of 
whom the Russians stand in terrible fear. 

The next morning we visited the moles of the men of 
war and of the merchant vessels, which, as well as the 
canals, are faced with granite, and are formed after a 
plan which we saw of Peter the Great. Amongst the 
ships of war was one, the largest I ever beheld, pierced 
for an hundred and forty guns, and exceeding in size 
every other ship in the Russian navy : its magnitude, 



Chap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMTvlER. 269 

and a strain which it received in launching, pre\^nts it 
from being fit for service. So unwieldy is it that it takes 
an hour in going about. 

A little way out of the town we saw a prison for cri- 
minals, than wiiich nothing could be more loathsome 
and shocking. It was an oblong square of wooden hou- 
ses built upon piles, and surrounded with a high vv^all of 
wood, and appeared unfit for the reception of the most 
despised animal. As we passed over a plain, we ob- 
served that for a great way, it was covered with rods, 
which, upon our servant enquiring of some soldiers who 
were collecting them, it appeared had been used in the 
-morning by a regiment upon a military offender, who 
had been sentenced to run the gauntlet, wiien each man 
holds one of these terrible instruments, composed of five 
birch sticks, about three feet long, and a quarter of an 
inch thick, and steeped in salt brine. 

We returned to Oranienbaum and saw the palace and 
gardens. The former was built by Prince Menchikoff, 
in 1727, for his own residence, after whose fall it came 
to the crown. It is raised upon terraces, and is compO'- 
sed of a small central building of two stories, and two 
very extensive vvings connected by colonnades : these 
wings are covered with a treillage, and form a beautiful 
walk in the summer ; the apartments are very neat and 
comfortable, one room is lined with thin taffeta sattin of 
pale lilac and white, plaited and formed into pannels ; 
the roof is covered in the same way, and had a beautiful 
effect. At the end of the . wings are two towers, one a 
Greek church, and the other a museum of china. The 
unfortunate Peter III. built a Lutheran chapel here, 
where he and his Holstein soldiers used to pray, instead 
of going to the Greek church ; this indiscretion furnish- 
ed a terrible weapon against him in the hands of the late 
Empress. 

In the gardens we saw the celebrated Flying Moun- 
tains, a vast fabric of three lessening^acclivities ot 'wood, 
resting upon brick arches, commencing from the ter- 
race of a lofty and spacious paA/ilion, and sloping to the 
ground; from the top to the bottom of this singular 
structure are parallel grooves, in whiph triumphal cars 

Y 2 



276 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 18. 

running upon castors are placed ; when the person who 
partakes of the diversion is ready, the car is released, 
and descends with a velocity which carries it over the 
hills in succession. This imperial plaything is sur- 
rounded with an open colonnade, more than half a mile 
in circumference, upon the terrace of which there is 
room for some thousands of spectators. The whole is 
now neglected and running to decay ; it reminded m€ 
of some lines in Cowper ; 

" Great Princes have great playthings : some have play'd 
*' At heaving mountains into men, and some 
*' At building human wonders mountains high.'* 

At this spot Count Orloff encreased the love which the 
Empress bore him, by saving her life : her car had by 
some accident sprung out of the groove, and was de- 
scending with uncommon velocity, when the Count, 
whose strength was Herculean, stopped it in its career, 
and in so doing broke liis arm, for which one of the ban- 
dages applied was the blue ribband. 

In another part of the gardens, deep embosomed ia 
'wood, we were shevvii to a little retired palace, consisting 
of a suite of rooms upon a ground floor, built by the late 
Empress, the taste and elegance of which surpassed ev- 
ery thing of the kind I ever beheld. One apartment was 
lined with small paintings of female heads, in pannels, 
representing, in the most exquisite manner, the progress 
of love, from hope to ecstacy. All the statues, pictures> 
and decorations, were calculated to kindle and cherish 
the noble and generous flame. 

As the camps for thirty thousand men were formed in 
the neighborhood for the annual reviews, we found it dif- 
ficult to obtfin beds ; our servants, who in the estima- 
tion of inn-keepers, have no higher pretensions to their 
notice than their pigs and poultry, were left to shift for 
themselves upon the floor. On our return to the capital 
we proceeded to the encampment, to be present at the 
first manoeuvres, but which had been countermanded ear- 
ly in the morning ; here a scene took place, which, as 
itdevelopes a little of the low Russian character, I may 



Chap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 271 

be permitted to relate : Ivan, the coachman of a chariot 
belonging to the party, a most grave and reverend -I ook*- 
ing personage, adorned M'ith a beard of extraordinary 
miagnitude and beauty, became offended with something 
that had been said by tv(ro servants, the one a German, 
the other a Pole, named David and Rominski, who were 
standing behind the foremost coach, in which I was v/ith 
some other friends ; Ivan, who had displayed a degree of 
siilkiness early in the morning, very unusual with the 
Russians, retorted their banter by endeavcring to drive 
the pole of his carriage against the legs of the servants, 
who, incensed at his conduct, jumped down and endeav- 
ored to seize Ivan, who threshed them heartily from his 
coach-bO,i : at last the Pole, who naturally abhors a Rus* 
sian, succeeded in dragging him froin his seat, curled 
bis hand round in his hair, tripped up his heels', and laid 
poor Ivan flat, and in this posture administered a sound 
fiagellation upon the back of the charioteer with his own 
whip, exclaiming at the same time, " I will let him know 
" that I am a Pole." If we may trace effects to remote 
causes it would not be unfair to conjecture, that the abdi- 
cation or rather dethronement of King Stanislaus Ponia- 
tofsky rendered some of the blows a little more severe 
than ordinary. When the punishment was over, and 
Ivan was once more upon his legs, it appeared that in 
his descent to the earth, he had cut his nose slightly 
against a stone, and was bleeding tolerably freely. Ivan 
knew the value of this accident, and took great good 
care to husband every crimson drop, and letting it spread 
and thicken upon his beard, raised a m^ost hideous yell 
and ran and preferred his complaint to a picquet guard 
of Cossacks of the Don, who placed us all under military 
arrest, and dispatched a comrade to their Colonel, with an 
account of what had happened within the lines ; the an- 
swer returned was, that he would not interfere, and that 
if any injury had been received it might be redressed at 
the first town. Ivan, who hy the bye, was a clever fellow, 
• during the absence of the cossack had prostrated himself 
■on' the ground, and imitated tolerably well the agonies of 
a dying man : as soon as he was told what the reply was, 
and finding that we were driving off without him, throw- 



272 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 18. 

ing aside the terrors of death, he in a moment vaulted into 
his box, and never drove or looked better, until we enter- 
ed the town of Peterhoff, which was crowded on account 
of the Court being at the palace, when he set up the most 
frightful yell, tore his hair, displayed his bloody beard, 
and called upon the police officers to seize us all and do 
him justice. In a short time we were surrounded with 
crowds ; the police officers, seeing we were English, 
heard the accuser, but shewed no disposition to detain us, 
so v/e proposed adjourning to the garden of the palace, 
and in one of its recesses to partake of the cold collation 
which we had brought with us. As we quitted the car- 
riage, ourcoachman whispered something to Ivan, who, 
with an arch look, told our valet, if we would give him 
tv/enty-five rubles, he would settle the business amica- 
bly : this we refused upon two grounds ; first that he 
merited what had happened ; and next, admitting he de- 
served any compensation, it was too exorbitant to demand 
twenty-five rubles for a bloody nose, when we learnt at 
Cronstadt, that twenty -three had only been paid for the 
loss of an eye. 

Wc went quietly to dinner in a delightful spot, well 
shaded from the sun; whilst we were enjoying our re- 
past, a little ragged boy approached us, to whom we 
offered some meat, but although he looked half famished 
we could not prevail upon him to touch it, as it was a 
fast. In one of the w^alks we met a lady of rank at- 
tended by a female dwarf, supremely ugly and deformed, 
and dressed like a shepherdess on her nuptial day. 
Whilst we were regaling ourselves Ivan was making the 
best use of his time with the guards and police officers, 
and upon our resuming our seats and endeavoring to pro- 
ceed, the barrier was dropped, and bayonets presented 
towards our horses ; we then all alighted, and attended 
by a great throng of guards and police officers, proceed- 
ed to the apartments of the deputy grand police master, 
whomi we found in his chamber in his shirt, fiddling be- 
fore a saint who was suspended in the corner : this genr 
tleman addressed us in German to which one of the par- 
ty, to whom it was his native tongue, replied, during 
which Ivan displayed his blood to great advantage, but 



Ghap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 273 

was ignorant of what w^as passing. In the course of the 
conversation, the magistrate abserved, " that the coach- 
" man deserved to be thrashed ; and that, had we beaten 
" him to a jellij-, so that blood had not followed, all would 
" have been well ; but," after a long pause, very good- 
humoredly said, " that we should no longer be detained," 
and accordingly ordered the guards to let us pass. No- 
thing could exceed the chagrin of poor Ivan when he 
heard the fate of his application : — no non-suited plaintiff 
ever threw his face into more burlesque distortions. 
Upon the road he stopped at every kabac for a drop of 
sorrow's medicine, which if Ivan had apostrohphized, he 
would have exclaimed : 

" Oh ! thou invisible spirit of brandy ; if thou hast no name to 
" be known by, let us call thee Angel.'' 



274 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Mhing of the JVeva Academy of sciences—^ The review—^ 

Cadet corpus— ~Pelisses-'->Countrij palace of Zatsko Zelo 
»— ^Another bust of the British Demosthenes misplaced—^ 

■ Canine tumuli-^-^Imperial pleasantry'— -Gatchina'—Pau-' 
voloffsky—^-Anniversary of a favorite saint-^-More 
dwarfs, 

A SHORT time before I left Petersburg, the inhab- 
itants were apprehl^nsive of a terrible inundation, 
of the Neva, in consequence of the wind blowing very 
fresh at south-south-west, which forces the waters of the 
gulf of Finland against the river, and prevents the stream 
from finding its level. The guns of the Admiralty- 
fired, and in the evening four lights were raised upon 
its church spire, the usual warning upon such occasions 
to the people, to take care of themselves and their prop- 
erty, and a general consternation spread through the city. 
About eight o'clock at night a part of the Galeernhoff 
was five feet under water, and the bridges of pontoons 
rose to a considerable height, so that the planks which 
connected them with the shores, presented on each side 
a formidable acclivity, which carriages of every descrip- 
tion surmounted by the uncommon skill and energy of 
the drivers and horses : their mode of reaching these 
almost perpendicular ascents was efi*ected by lashing the 
horses, at a considerable distance, into a full gallop, and 
by a great number of police officers and soldiers, who al- 
ways attend at the bridges on these occasions to prevent 
accidents, running behind and propelling the carriage, 
or saving it from being dashed to pieces,vby its not being 
able to turn the summit. Luckily the wind, the Neva, 
and the public apprehensions, subsided together, with- 
out any damage being done. 

The change enabled our party to visit the Academy 
of Sciences, a noble building, situated on the north side 
of the Neva, in Vassilli-Ostroff. After passing through 
the library, whose damp walls were feebly lighted from 
above, and where there is nothing but some Tartarian 



Chap. 19.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. ItYS 

manusciipts worthy of detaining the attention of a trav- 
eller, we entered the museum of natural curiosities, in 
which the principal objects were various parts of the hu- 
man frame, foetuses, miscarriages, and births, from the 
first impregnation to perfect birth, monsters human and 
animal, and a variety of most odious and disgusting et 
ceteras, in pickie. The skin of the Heyduc, or favor- 
ite servant of Peter the Great, is here, stretched upon a 
wooden image of his size, which shews that the man must 
have been six feet and a half high, and that natui^e had 
furnished him with a skin nearly as thick and impenetra^ 
ble as that of the rhinoceros's hide. In the gallery above 
was a Lapponian dog-sledge ; the habiliments of a Sibe- 
rian magician, or gipsey, priiicipally composed of a 
great number of iron rings and drops placed upon a 
wooden statue ; several presents from the undaunted and 
enterprising Captain Cook, and a variety of stuffed bii ds- 
and animals. In the room of Peter the Great was a wax 
figure of his height, which was above six feet, resemb^ 
ling him in form and face, and dressed in one of his full 
suits : in an adjoining cupboard were his hat, pierced 
with a bullet at Pultowa, breeches that wanted repair, 
and stockings that required darning. In another room 
were his turning machines, with v/hich he used to relax 
himself; cupboaitls filled with brazen dishes of his em-» 
bossing, and spoons and platters of his turning : in short, 
all the curiosity which the merest trifles of great genius 
generally excite, is, in this instance, destroyed by their 
abundance. In every public garden, or building, there 
is a profuse display of his clothes, arms, or culinary 
utensils : if a twentieth part of them were burnt, the 
remainder would be more worthy of notice. How sin- 
gular is it, that cotemporary genius never excites our at- 
tentions, and awakens our feelings, so forcibly as that 
which is departed ! In contemplating a great man, the 
mind's eye reverses the laws of vision, by magnifying 
the object in proportion as it recedes from it. Upon the 
basement story is a very curious mechanical writing- 
desk, by Roentgen, a Germ.an, of Neuwied, presented 
to the Academy by Catherine, who gave twenty-live- 
thousand rubles for it. Upon touching a spring, a varie- 



276 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. 

ty of drawers fly out, a writing-desk expands, and boxes 
for letters and papers rise. A part of the machinery 
may be set so, that if any person were to attempt to 
touch any of the private recesses appropriated for mon- 
ey, or confidential papers, he would be surprised by a 
beautifLil tune, which would give due notice to the own- 
er. We were told that, in the Academy, are to be seen 
moon-stones, or blocks of native iron, which, it is con- 
jectured by the learned, must have been cast from the 
volcano of some planet. They were not shewn to us : 
but several of these phenomena are to be miet with in 
different parts of Russa. It seems hostile to the laws of 
gravitation, that a single atom should be able to swerve 
from its planet. 

Adjoining the Academy is a pavilion containing the 
Gottorp globe, eleven feet in diameter from pole to pole : 
the concavity is marked with the stars and constellations, 
and is capable of holding several persons : as some ladies 
of our party ventered in, upon the exhibitor turning the 
globe on its axis, we were more sensibly impressed with 
the idea of the motion of the heavenly bodies. 

In the evening after the opera, a party of us set off to 
the camp, and passed the night in our carriage, in order 
to be present at the review, which commenced the next 
day at eight o'clock. After getting a comfortable break- 
fast in a Cossac hut, v/e proceeded to the ground. The 
manoeuvres commenced in a \illage about three miles off, 
w^here a sharp cannonading took place. The contending 
armies, consisting of about fifteen thousand men each, 
the one headed by the Emperor, and the other by Gen- 
eral , began to move towards each other, in a vast 

valley, and halted within half a mile of each other, when a 
tremendous discharge of artellery took place, and firing 
of different parties was kept up all the time^ at distances 
of five and six miles. , Here the manceuvres of that day 
concluded, and v/e returned home to a late dinner. 

It was nov/ the second of September, N. S. and the 
summer began to. give tokens of rapid decline : the lamps 
but feebly supplied that light which, not even many days 
before, gave to the evening the character of a mild mid- 
day. 



Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2f7 

We were much gratiiied in visiting, by an express ap- 
pointment, a nursery of future heroes, called the second 
Imperial Cadet Corps, in which seven hundred children 
are educated and maintained, as gentlemen, for the pro- 
fession of arms, at the expense of the country. The go- 
Yemor, a nobleman of high rank, and several of the of- 
ficers attached to the instiution, attended us through the. 
progressive schools. Every child follows his own reli- 
gious persuasion, for which purpose there are a Lutheran 
and a Greek church under the same roof : the latter is sin- 
gularly elegant. The dormitories, as well as every oth- 
er part of the establishment were remarkably clean and 
handsome, the pupils having separate beds. In the 
store-rooms each boy's change of linen and clothes were 
very neatly folded up, and his name marked upon a tab- 
let over them. At one of the doors we saw some of these 
soldiers in miniature relieve guard. In the schools are 
taught mathematics, gunnery, mapping, French, Ger- 
mian, and Russian ; fencing and dancing, and every other 
science and accomplishment which can complete the 
soldier and the gentleman. We were present at their 
dinner, which is served at half past tv/elve o'clock. The 
dining-hall is tv/o hundred feet long, by forty broad. 
Every table held twenty-two boys, for each of whom a 
soup and meat plate, a silver fork, knife, and napkin, and 
a large slice of wholesome country bread, were laid ; and 
at each end were two large silver goblets filled with ex- 
cellent quass : they have four substantial dishes three 
times a week, and three on the other days. All the boys, 
after marching in regular order from the respective 
Schools, appeared at the several doors of the dining-hall, 
headed by their captains : upon the roll of the drum, 
they marched in slow time to their respective tables, 
forming three companies of two huiidred each (the fuzi- 
leer company, composed of the sons of the soldiers, did 
not dine till afterwards) ; at the second roll they halted, - 
faced, and sat down : all their dishes appeared to be ex- 
cellent : their uniform was bottle green, faced with red. 
Great attention appeared to have been paid to their man- 
ners, by the decorum and urbanity which \^s displayed 
at their tables. The kitchens for soup, boiling, and roast- 

Y 



278 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. 

in g were remarkably neat although we saw them just 
after dinner had been served up. There are several 
other cadet corps upon the same princely establishment, 
and create in the mind of a stranger a high idea of the 
wealth and patriotic spirit of the empire. 

A foreigner should not quit Petersburg without see- 
ing the cabinet of jewels and furs, contained in a superb 
building in the Grand Perspective : here the clocks, 
gilded and bronze ornaments of the palace of Saint 
Michael, are deposited, all of which are very magnifi* 
cent ; there are also massy balustrades and tables of 
solid silver. Amongst the jewellery I was much pleas- 
ed with several beautiful watches, upon the backs of 
which were little figures, some in the act of angling 
and drawing up little fish ; others cooking meat, pump- 
ing, and rocking cradles ; in others little cascades of 
glass were set in motion. There was a profusion of 
magnificent diamond snuff-boxes, stars, Sec. for imperial 
presents. 

In the apartments below was the museum of furs, 
where we saw several pelisses made of tiny dorsal slips 
of the black fox, valued each at ten thousand pounds. 
This animal, a native of Siberia, is so rare and so small, 
that one of these pelisses cannot be made in less than 
ten years, and they are then paid to the Emperor in lieu 
of money, as tributes from different provinces. These 
are generally presented upon some great national occa- 
sion to crowned heads. There are also fine collections 
of sables and other furs, many of which are annually 
sold. 

As I have mentioned these tributes, it may be proper 
here to observe, that the imperial revenues chiefly arise 
from the poll tax, the crown and church lands, the duties 
on export and import, profi.ts of the mint, the excise up- 
on salt, the sale of spiritous liquors, post-offices and post- 
ing. The proprietors of houses, as well natives as 
foreigners, pay in lieu of all other taxes, and in discharge 
from the odious burthen of maintaining soldiers, to . 
vvhich they were formerly liable, a duty of one half per 1 
cent, ad valorem^ upon the house, and a ground rent 



Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 270 

which varies according to local advantages, for every 
square fathom. 

Of course, I did not leave the capital without seeing 
Zarsko Zelo, the most magnificent of the country pala- 
ces, about twenty-four versts from Petersburg. The 
entrance to it is through a forest, under a lofty arch of 
artificial rock, surmounted with a Chinese w^atch tower ; 
after which we passed a Chinese town, where the enor- 
mous imperial pile, consisting of three stories, one thou- 
sand two hundred feet long, opened upon us. It was 
built by Catherine I. ; embellished and barbarously gilt 
by Elizabeth, and greatly beautified and inodernized by 
the late Empress. Amongst the numerous rooms fitted 
up in the style of ancient magnificence, the amber- 
room, a vast apartment, entirely lined with pieces of 
that valuable fossil bitumen, presented by Frederick Wil- 
liam I. to Peter the Great, but not put up till the reign 
of Elizabeth. One of the pieces of amber expressed in 
rude characters, by its veins, the year in which it was 
presented. 

The apartments, which Catherine has fitted up and 
embellished, display the highest taste and profusion of 
expense ; the floor of one of these roonris was inlaid with 
mother-of-pearl, representing a variety of flowers and 
elegant figures ; but I was most pleased with her two 
celebrated chambers of entire glass, which in novelty 
and beauty exceed all description. The sides and ciel- 
ings of these rooms were formed of pieces of thick glass, 
about a foot square, of a cream and pale blue color, con- 
nected by fine frames of brass richly gilded. In the 
centre, upon steps of glass rose a divan, above which 
was a vast mirror, and on each side were slender pillars 
of light blue glass that supported an elegant canopy. 
Behind the mirror w:?s a rich state bed. Even the doors, 
sophas, and chairs, were of colored glass, elegantly 
shaped, and very light. 

Fronti the rooms we entered a vast terrace under a 
colonnade, and proceeded to the baths, which are lasting 
monuments of the taste of Mr. Cameron, the imperial 
architect. They contain a suite of superb rooms, one of 
which is entirely composed of the richest agates and por- 



28© NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. 

phyry ; in this saloon were two pieces in mosaic, the 
most brilliant and beautiful I ever beheld. Near the 
baths is a vast terrace upon arches, with a central cover- 
ed gallery of great extent, capable at all times of afford- 
ing either a cool or a sheltered promenade. Upon this 
terrace are a great number of line busts of distinguish- 
ed men ; am.ongst others was a copy of that of Mr. Fox, 
in bronze, placed on the left of Cicero. As I contem- 
plated the head of the British orator, I secretly protested 
against his situation, and was endeavoring to give him> 
the rights v^^hen a terrified attendant and his companion 
ran up to me, and prevented me from performing this. 
Jict of justice. 

In the gardens which are extensively and very taste- 
fully laid out by the late and present Mr. Bush, father 
and son, to whom the care of these gardens and hot- 
houses have been successively committed, we saw the 
Hermitage, in the iir^ fioor of which the late Empress, 
and a select party of her friends, used to dine without at- 
tendants, for which purpose she had a table constructed 
of most complicated machinery, at a great expense, 
through which the covers descended and rose by means 
of a great central trap-door, as did the plates through 
cylinders. The party was by this means supplied with 
every delicacy, without being seen or heard. The ma- 
chinery below filled a large room, and at first made me 
think I was under the stage of a theatre : this was anoth- 
er of Catherine's playthings. As we moved through the 
grounds, we were struck with a rostral column, raised 
to Feodor Orloff for the conquest of the Morea : a mar- 
ble obelisk to Romiantzoff, for his victories near Kagul ; a 
marble pillar, on a pedestal of granite, to Orlofr Tches- 
minskoi ; and the pailadian bridge, formed in Siberia, 
and erected here over a branch of the lake : it is simi- 
lar to that at Lord PembrQke's. In a retired part is an 
Egyptian pyramid, behind which are several tombs, 
erected by the late Empress to the memory of her fa- 
vorite dogs : amongst these I copied the following, ths 
composition of Catherine. 



Ghap. 19.] NORTHl^RN SUMMER, 281 

Cigit 

Duchessee, 
la fidele compagne 

de 

Sir Tom. Anderson. 

Elie le siiivit en Riisse 

I'an 1776. 

Aime et respecte 

par sa nombreuse posterite 

elle d^ceda en 1782, agee de 15 ans, 

laissant 115 descendans 

tant levriers que levrettes. ^ 

There is a small superb palace, within about two 
hundred yards of Zarsko Zelo, built by the late Empress, 
for her grandson Alexander. Some of the rooms are of 
marble, and very magnificent. At Zarsko Zelo there 
are no inns, but the hospitality of Mr. Bush, the Eng- 
lish gardener, prevents this inconvenience from being 
felt by any foreigner, who is respectably introduced to 
him. In censequence of a letter from our ambassador, 
we were very handsomely received, and entertained by 
Mr. Bush, in whose house, in the life-time of his father, 
the following whimsical circumstance occurred. When 
Joseph II. Emperor of Germany, to whom eveiy ap- 
pearance of show was disgusting, expressed his inten- 
tions of visiting Catherine II. Aie offered him apart- 
ments in her palace, which he declined, Her Majesty, 
well knowing his dislike to parade, had Mr. Bush's 
house fitted up as an inn, v.ith the sign of a Catherine- 
ivhecl^ below which, appeared, in German characters, 
" The Ealkenstein Arms," the name which the Empe- 
ror assumed. His Majesty knew nothing of tlie ingen- 
ious and attentive deception, till after he had quitted Rus- 
.sia ; a number of very laughable occurrences took place. 
When the Emperor once went from Vienna to Moscow^ 
he preceded the I'oyal carriages to order the horses, as an 
avant-couner-f in order to avoid the obnoxious pomi) and 
ceremony which an acknowledgment of his rrmk would 
have awakened. 



282 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. 

From Zarsko Zelo v/e set off for a town near the pal- 
ace of Gatchina, about eighteen versts from the former, 
where we arrived about eleven at night ; although so near 
an imperial residence, three of us were obliged at the 
inn to sleep upon straw, there being only one sopha va- 
cant : however, the palace and gardens compensated this 
little inconvenience. The former was raised by Gregory 
Orloff, and, on his death, purchased by the late Em- 
press. The rooms were superb, amongst which were 
two of a crescent shape, richly furnished and ornament- 
ed ; and a chamber, the sopha, bed, canopy, cieling, and 
sides of which were formed of white callico, whilst over 
the latter projecting a little, v/as stretched a broad net- 
work of the same stuff, with roses in the centre of each 
divison : the -effect was unique and very beautiful. The 
gardens were romantic and elegant. In a small lake 
were a great number of beautiful gondolas and pleasure^ 
boats ; and on a large space of water, a frigate of twen- 
ty-two guns, originally built to afford Paul, when a youth, 
some little notion of a man of war. With a fair wind it 
is capable of sailing about one hundred yards. It is kept 
in good order, for the purpose of forming an agreeable 
object, and on festive occasions is illuminated. 

From Gatchina we proceeded to Pauvoloffsky, another 
imperial chateau, built by Paul in 1780, and which, with. 
Gatchina, form the principal country residences of the 
Empress Dowager and the^younger branches of the Im- 
perial family, who were there at the time of our visit. 
Such a crowded court I never beheld ; every window 
seemed to be filled with faces, and every avenue with 
officers of the household, servants and cooks ; it was like 
a great bee-hive. We took only an hasty glance at the 
state rooms, wi:iich were fitted up in a style of gorgeous 
mag-nificence. The pannels of one of the apartments 
contained excellent copies of some of the exquisite In- 
dia views of Messieurs Daniels. In the Dov/ager Em- 
press' cabinet was a most elegant writing table, the top 
of which was lined on each side with Chinese roses„ 
blowing, in vases sunk to a level with the surface. 

On the eleventh of September the Court, and all the 
people of Petersburg capable of v»^alking. attended in 



Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 283 

great pomp the celebration of the anniversary of their 
tutelar spirit, Saint Alexander Nevsky. After perform- 
ing their devotion at the Kazan, the Court, in grand pro- 
cession, in their state carriages, proceeded ta the gate of 
the monastery (which I have before described), where 
they were received by the metropolitan and all the bish- 
ops in their full pontificals, adorned v/ith pearls and dia- 
monds, and by the monks and choristers, who preceded 
the Imperial family, chaunting hymns, upon a raised 
platform, covered with scarlei cloth, to the church, where 
the effect produced by their entrance was very sublime^ 
They then proceeded to the silver shrine of the saint, 
which, after several prayers and hymns, as I was inform- 
ed, they kissed, for the crowd was so great, that I could 
not see the whole of the ceremony ; after which they 
returned, and partook of some refreshments at the house 
of the archbishop. As soon as they had retired, some 
thousands of people flocked to the shrine of Saint Alex- 
ander, and to another of the Virgin adjoining, to touch 
them with their lips. 

As the Empress Dowager passed, the musheeks or 
common boors said to one another, " There goes our 
<' good mother." All the miale Russians, of equal degree 
in rank, address each other by the name of brat, or 
brother ; which is also used by any one speaking to his. 
inferior. The Emperor calls his subjects brats. A 
friend of mine heard Paul one day say to a bearded 
workman, " My brother take care, the ice is too thin to 
" bear you." When the low address their superiors they 
say batushka moia, " my father." Very near the mon-^ 
astery is the glass manufactory, where the vast mirrors, 
for which Russia is so celebrated, are roiled. The es- 
tablishment resembles a little town : almost all the art- 
ists are Russians, and in their various departments dis- 
played great taste and ingenuity. 

From this place we visited the hotel of the Prince 
Usupoff, a very noble edifice, but, like all the great 
houses of the nobility, presented a scene of uncommon 
neglect and dirt in the front and court yard ; for exam- 
ple, several of the broken windows of the basement 
story were filled with hay, and in the yard lay offdl-meatj 



284 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1^. 

bones, shells, and horse dung, here and there half con- 
cealed by grass growmg above the stones. The Prince 
has a fine gallery of pamtings and statues, which he has 
collected at a vast expense in Italy : most of the subjects 
are in the highest degree voluptuous. Over one paint- 
ing the Prince has extended a curtain : how little does 
he know of human nature, if he wishes to pay homage 
to modesty by exciting curiosity : I will venture to say 
there was more indecorum and peril in the curtain than in 
the picture. In the library, which is very excellent, we 
were attended by a frightful bilious dwarf, about forty 
years of age ; a Polish laquais took him by his little 
shrivelled hand, and patting him on the head, observed 
to us, that he had been in a small island in the Mediter- 
ranean, v/hich svf armed with dwarfs, many of whom he 
solemnly declared were not taller than cats set upon their 
hinder legs ! ! ! In the language of Count Aranza, 



•*♦ That's a lie.'* 



A few days before I left the city I applied, through a 
friend of mine, to the polatch or executioner, to purchase 
of him a knout, to bring v/ith ine to England : upon go- 
ing to his house, which seemed to be a very comfortable 
one, he was from home, but his wife took up one of the 
thongs, and in a very gentle and tender manner began 
explaining the theory and practice of this instrument of 
torture, in the course of which she observed, that it was 
made, not of the skin of a wild ass, as has been assert- 
ed, for. excepting a small breed of that animal in Sibe- 
ria, not one is to be found in any other part of the empire, 
but of ox's hide soaked in milk and dried, and that her 
husband was so expert, that he could cut a piece of flesh 
from the back of exactly its size. These functionaries 
of justice are held in such abhorrence, that although 
this very executioner offered to give four thousand rubles 
as a dowry with his daughter to a common droslika 
driver, she was rejected vvith scorn. The merciless 
Empress Elizabeth, enjoyed the reputation of having 
abolished the punishment of death : she little deserved 
the homage which was paid to her : the fact was, know- 



Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMEIt. 285 

ing how hateful the appearance of death is to the Rus- 
sans, she ordered a capital culprit to be knouted to such 
a degree, that he was only enabled to reach his prison 
alive, when his lacerated frame was thrown upon a bed 
of boards, and left to gangrene and mortify for want of 
medical application : such was the boasted humanity of 
Elizabeth ! To the superstitious dread of seeing a corpse, 
vi^hich marks the Russian character, let me add an un- 
conquerable aversion to receiving any thing as a present 
which has a sharp point : a gentleman presented a 
young Russ lady with an elegant female pocket-book, in 
which there was a row of needles ; with some concern 
she took from her purse a little silver piece, and gave it 
to the donor as the fiur chase money. 

A number of interesting objects still remained to be 
seen, but my time, and an alteration in my intention of 
visiting Italy, made it necessary to bid adieu to a city, 
which I shall never reflect upon but with admiration, 
nor upon those of its inhabitants, to vv^hom I had the 
honor of being kno^'^Ti, without respect and esteem. 

In the decline of the summer, (for I now speak of it 
as departed from these regions) the weather was very 
variable ; a fiercely sultry day was succeeded by a very 
chilly one, within thirty hours, from being scarcely able 
to endure m.y dressing-gown, I was glad to place myself 
before, a wonder in Russia, a blazing fire in an English 
stove ; but the atmospheric fluctuations are certainly not 
so great as in cur own clim.ate, and this circumstance 
might, perhaps, have induced a Russ servant, who had 
just returned from England, to say, upon being asked 
whether he was soon familiarized vv'ith our country, 
" I understood quick all tings dere, but de climate, dat I 
'- could no understand." The harvests in the provinces 
near the capital, v/hich is generally got in by the tenth 
of August N. S. had b len housed for more than a month, 
black clouds frequently obscured the sun, the winds be- 
gan to blow loud and blfeak, the leaves were rapidly fall- 
ing, and each succeeding day grew visibly shorter : these 
were sufficient warnings for birds of passage to wing their 
way to milder regions. As some very agreeable coun- 



286 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1*. 

trymen and travellers were setting off for Berlin, I had 
the good fortune of being invited to join the party : to 
their barouche I added a Swedish carriage, requiring on- 
ly one horse, to assist in the general conveyance. As 
this little carriage excited uncomraon delight and wonder 
in some countries through which we passed, and lost all 
its popularity in another, as will be hereafter told ; and 
moreover as I grew attached to it in proportion as I saw 
its merits, and beheld them at one time acknowledged, 
at another derided, I must be indulged in describing it, 
A small body of railing with a seat for two persons, a 
head of canvas, and a well for luggage, mounted upon 
two wheels about three feet high, and a shaft for one 
horse, composed the whole of this redoubted vehicle. 
In Russia, everv traveller is obliged to purchase a travel- 
ling carriage, unless he is disposed to hazard a general 
dislocation in a kibitka. 




Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 287 



CHAPl^R XX. 

Leave Petersburg — The little Swede — 'Adventures at Strel- 
na—^JVarvO'— 'Bears — Beds-^Dorfit — Teutonic knights 
and ivhimsical revenge — Whij(iping of boors — Brothers- 
in-laiv — Courland'T—Poles^—'Memel'— 'Seventy of Prus- 
sian drilling. 

T is a great object in quitting a great city, where you 
have strong ties to detain you, resokitely to set off on 
the appointed day for the commencement of one's jour- 
ney, be the hour what it may, and even if you can pro- 
ceed no further than one post. After a deley of foui* 
hours, occasioned by the stupidity of the post- master, at 
eight o'clock in thd^ evening of the nineteenth of Septem- 
ber, N. S. the servants of our hospitable friends, Messrs. 
Vennings, who had been some time previously employed 
in filling every crack and corner of the carriages with 
bottles of porter, claret, and all sorts of provisions, an- 
nounced that every thing was ready. As we all assem- 
bled in the court yard, my old companion Mishka, to the 
full stretch of her chain, stood on her hinder legs, and 
seemed, in her rude way, for her voice was not the most 
musical, to regret my departure, but upon my giving her 
some sugar, I found it an error of vanity, for she instant- 
ly ran into her house to enjoy it, and, as in the moment 
of repletion neither Bruins nor Englishmen, nor perhaps 
any other being, like to be disturbed, I did not say with 
the song — 

" Give me thy paw, my bonny bonny bear,*' 

but left her, to shake hands with those from whom we 
had received the most polite and kind attentions. My 
friend Captain Eiphinstone insisted upon riding to the 
bridge with me, in the little Swede, as he called it, where 
we parted with mutual and genuine regret. 

The moon shone very bright. The little Russ driver, 
who sat on the shaft, unfortunately for my ears and the 
temperature of my mind, proved to be a great singer : 



,288 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2©. 

his shrill pipe never ceased till we reached Streina, the 
first stage, where we proposed sleeping-. 

As soon as we drove up to the door of a handsome inn, 
which ov/ed its architectural consequence to the prox- 
imity of the Grand Duke Constantine's country palace, 
the host told our servant, a German, he had no room for 
us : upon which a voice from the top of the banisters, 
with Stentorian energy, exclaimed in Russ, '' By G- — d 
" there is room, the gentlemen shall be accommodated, 
" or'by to-morrow evening- the Grand Duke Constantine 
" shall biov/ you all to the devil." The translation of this 
extraordinary exclamation vv^e received afterwards, upon 
which a Russ officer, a little flushed with the Tuscan 
grape, came doAvn to us, and began, according to the cus- 
tom of the Continent, to kiss us all round. When we 
had submitted to this detestable cererftony, he led, or ra- 
ther drove us up stairs : lavishing upon the master of the 
inn all the opprobrious epithets he could collect, in bad 
French ; ordered a handsome supper, and all sorts of 
wines ; pressed us by the hands, swore the English were 
the finest fellows in the world, and again repeated his lov- 
ing kindnessby another salutation : when one of the par- 
ty recoiling a little from the \iolence of his friendship, 
he turned round, shrugged up his shoulders, and in a 
most signincant manner exclaimed, " My G— d, he does 
" not kiss like a man 1" Afte^- making a hearty supper, 
we ordered our bill, but the omcer swore he would mur- 
der our host if he presented any, and ordered him out of 
the room, declaring that we were his own guests, which 
he followed by screaming several Russ songs ; after 
which we begged to know the name of this strange crea- 
ture, and presented him with a piece of paper and a pen- 
cil ; but after many ineffectual efforts, we plainly saw 
*' that his education had stopped before he had learnt to 
" read or write." Finding that we could get no beds, we 
ordered horses, travelled all night upon good roads, and 
arrived early the next morning to breakfast at Koskowa. 
All the post-houses beyond Streina are kept by Ger- 
mans ; for each horse we paid two copecs per verst. 
This part of Ingria formerly belonged to the SAvedes. 
The female peasantry wear a fiat bonnet of red silk and 



Cha^. ^0.3 NORTHERN SUMMER im 

;^old lace, large ear-rings, a vest without sleeves, and 
cloth round their legs : women, before their marriage, 
wear their hair plaited, and hanging down ; the males ai'e 
dimply clad in sheeps' skins, with the wool inside. 

I would recommend every traveller to sleep at Jarn- 
feurg, one stage before Narva. At the former, the post- 
master told us he had no horses ; but the magic of a sil- 
ver ruble discovered six, quietly eating their hay in the 
stable, which speedily brought us over a wooden road to 
Narva, at nine o*clock in the evening, to a very com- 
fortable inn. Here the Russ character began to subside ; 
snost of the boo!*s speak German. 

In the m^oniing we were much gratified with contem- 
plating a town, which the romantic heroisrai of Charles 
XII. of Sweden has for ever rendered celebrated. We 
passed over the ground where, on the 30th November, 
1 700, Charles routed one hundred thousand Muscovites 
with eight thousand Swedes. History says, that upon 
the first discharge of the enemy's shot, a ball slightly 
grazed the King's left shoulder ; of this he at the time 
took no notice : soon after his horse was killed, and a 
second had his head carried away by a cannon-ball. As 
lie was nimbly mounting the third. " These fellows," 
says he, " make m.e exercise." His sagacity and hu- 
manity were auspicious in the disposal of his prisoners, 
who were five times his numbers : after they had laid 
down their arms the King returned them their colors, 
and presented their officers with their swords, marched 
them across the river, and sent them home. I have 
heard of the humane policy of a British general, who 
finding, after a battle, that his prisoners greatly exceed- 
ed his own troops in numbers, and not possessing the 
local faculties that favored the Swedish conqueror, to 
prevent any ill consequences from a situation so em- 
l>arra3sing, lie made every prisoner swallow a copious 
-quantity of jalap, and then ordered the v/aistband of his 
breeches to be cut : by this aperient and harmless poli- 
cy, he placed four men under the irresistible control of 
one. 

A a 



290 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. 

The waterfalls are about an English mile from the 
town. At a distance, the trees, which hang over the val- 
ley through which the waters roll, were enveloped in 
mist. I should suppose these falls to be about three 
hundred feet wide, and their descent about seventeen. 
The weather at this time was delightful, resembling 
some of our finest days in May. In the evening we went 
to a play, performed by a strolling company of Ger- 
mans : the hero of the piece was a young English mer- 
chant decorated with a polar star on his left breast ; and 
another of the dramatis Persona was^ drunken lady. 

We left Narva at seven the next morning, and enter- 
ed the province of Livonia. The roads were excellent, 
and the country beautiful : our horses small, plump, 
and strong ; and above we were serenaded by -larks sing- 
ing in a cloudless sky. Our drivers wore hats covered 
with oil-skin, and woollen gloves ; and the German pipe 
began to smoke. The little Swede excited the wonder 
and admiration of every Livonian booi*, who had never 
before beheld such a vehicle. In the evening things be- 
gan to assume a less pleasing aspect : as we approached 
the lake Piepus, the roads became very sandy, and the 
country dreary. At the post-house at Kleinpringern, 
w^e saw the skins of several bears hanging up to dry, 
and conversed with a party of hunters, who were going 
in pursuit of that animal, with which, as well as with 
wolves, the woods on each side abound. Here let me 
recommend every traveller to take an additional number 
of horses to his carriage, otherwise he will experience 
the inconvenience which attended us before we reached 
Rennapungen, the next stage. To the little Swede we 
put two horses, to the barauche six ; all lean, miserable 
animals, wretchedly tackled, and in this trim we started 
at nine o'clock in the evening,' and, axeltree-deep in sand, 
we ploughed our way at the rate of two English miles 
an hour : at last our poor jaded cattle, panting and al- 
most breathless, after several preceding pauses, made a 
decisive stand in the depth of a dark forest, the silence of 
which was only interrupted by the distant howling of 
bears. Our drivers, after screaming in a very shrill 



Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER: 291 

tone, as we wefe afterwards infornled, to keep these ani- 
mals off, dropped their heads upon the necks of their 
horses, and very composedly went to sleep : a comforta- 
ble situation for a set of impatient Englishmen ! Finding 
that the horses of the Utile Swede began to prick their 
ears after three quarters of an hour's stoppage, I and my 
companion awoke our postilion, and ordered him to pro- 
ceed, that we might send fresh horses for the other car- 
riage. To our surprise we jogged on tolerably well, 
reached Rennapungen in about four hours, and dispatch- 
ed fresh horses for our friends, who rejoined us at five 
o'clock in the morning. 

When I entered the inn at this place, two Russian 
Counts, and their suite, occupied all the beds ; so I 
mounted an old spinnet, and with a portmanteau for a 
pillow, and fatigue for opiate, went to. sleep, until the 
travellers, who started very early were gone, when I got 
into abed, which the body of a Count of the empire had 
just warmed. This circumstance reminded me of the 
answer of a chamber-maid, at an inn at Exeter, who, up-, 
on my requesting to have a comfortable bed, observed, 
" Indeed, Sir, you cannot have a better one than the one 
" I have secured for you ;" and, by way of recommenda- 
tion, added, " Lord B , who arrived from Lisbon 

" about ten days since, died in it two nights ago." 

The following day we passed through a country v/hich, 
no doubt, was a perfect Paradise in the estimation of the 
race of Bruins ; to whom I left its unenvied enjoyment, 
to sit dov/n to a comfortable dinner at Nonal, the next 
stage, hciving abundantly replenished our stock of pro- 
visions at Narva. After skirting a small portion of the 
Piepus lake, a vast space of water, eighty versts broad, 
and one hundred and sixty long, ive arrived at Dorpt, 
which stands upon a small river that communicates with 
the lake. The town is extensive, has severed good streets 
and handsome houses, and is celebrated for its universi- 
ty, in which there are twenty -four professors, and one 
hundred and forty students, one-third of whom are nc- 
ble. Upon the summit of a hill that commands the 
town, are the remains of a vast and ancient abbey, which 



2^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, 2a. 

was founded by the knights of the Teutonic Order, now 
repairing for the reception of the university library : the 
palace of the Grand Master occupied the spot where the 
fortifications are building. The Teutonic Order was es- 
tablished in the twelfth century, and declined in the fif- 
teenth. In a crusade against Saladin, for the recovery of 
the Holy Land, a great number of German volunteers, 
accompanied the Emperor Barbarossa : upon whose 
death his followers, who had distinguished themselves 
on that spot where, several centuries afterwards, it was 
destined that Sir Sidney Smith, with unexampled hero- 
ism, should plant the British standard before Acre, elect- 
ed fresh leaders, under whom they performed such feats 
of valor, that Henry, king of Jerusalem, the Patriarch, 
and other Princes, instituted an order of knighthood in 
their favor, and were ultimately placed under the pro- 
tection of the Virgin Mary : in honor of whom they rais- 
ed several magnificent structures at Marienborg, or the 
city of the Virgin Mary, near Dantzig. Afterwards 
growing rich, they elected a Grand Master, who was in- 
vested with sovereign prerogatives : by the bulls that 
were granted in their favor, they were represented as pro- 
fessing temperance and continence ; virtues which, no. 
doubt, were religiously observed by soldiers, and travel- 
led men of gallantry. 

The prison of Dorpt, in which a number of unfortu- 
nate creatures are immured, is a subterranean vault, 
damp, dark, narrow, and pregnant with disease and. 
misery. To be confined in it is, in general, something; 
worse than being sent to the scaffold ; for a lingering 
death is the usual fate of the wretch upon whom its gates 
are closed. Han way, in the name of justice and humani- 
ty, denounced this dungeon : to the present Emperor 
some recent representations have been made upon the 
subject ; they will not be made in vain to one who, glo- 
riously reversing the ordinary habits of beneficence, lis- 
tens with more fixed attention to the sounds of misery in 
proportion as they are distant and feeble. 

If a pebble be thrown into a standing pool, it will dis- 
turb its even surface from the centre to the extremities j 



Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 293 

but if a stone be cast into the ocean, it creates but a|mo- 
nientary interruption, unfelt by the succeeding wave ; 
thus will a petty occurrence agitate the tranquillity of a 
small community, which would produce no sensation up- 
on expanded and active society. A trifle, not quite as 
light as air, a few days before our arrival, had rudely 
and unexpectedly shattered the peace and harmony 
which once reigned in the academic bowers of Dorpt. 
Professors were di'awn out in battle array, and Vengeance 
assumed the mask of Learning. 

Two professors* ladies had had a violent dispute at 
cards, and unfortunately they lived opposite to each oth- 
er : one of them, upon a sunny day, when all things look 
clear and bright, ordered her maid, a plump, brawny, 
Livonian girl, whilst her opponent's husband, a grave 
and I'everend gentleman, was looking out of his window, 
as a mark of scorn and contempt, to turn her back to- 
wards him in her chamber, and exhibit le derriere de sa 
/ierso7ine, sans voile. It was a Livonian thought : the 
social condition of the coimtry, the rash infirmity of hu- 
man nature, the summary projects of pique, all plead 
for the urbanity of the lady, v/ho only in this solitary in- 
stance forgot the dignity of her situation. All Dorpt 
was at first convulsed with laughter, save the parties 
concerned, and their immediate friends. The most eru- 
dite civilians were sent for ; and after long and sagacious 
consultations, a bill was filed against the mistress and her 
maid, to which regular answers were put in, most ably 
drawn up. Nothing short of penance and excommunica- 
tion were expected. No doubt, this most important suit 
has been long since determined ; and much do I regret, 
that ignorance of the decree prevents me from finishing 
the fragment of this curious event. L^pon turning the 
corner of a street, we beheld a sight at once shocking 
and humiliating to the pride of man, a vast pile of skulls 
and bones of the terrific and ambitious knights of the 
Teutonic Order. In breaking up some cemeteries, for 
erecting the foundation of a new university, these wretch- 
ed remains were removed, that once formed the plumed 
and glittering warrior, who, 

A a 2 



294 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. 



f* with his beaver on. 

His cuisses on his thighs, gallanrly arm'd, 
Rose from the ground like feather'd Mercury ; 
And vaulted with such ease into his seat. 
As if an angel dropt down from the clouds." 

The students at the university seem desirous of retain- 
ing in their dress some traces of the martial founders of 
the town, by wearing great military boots and spurs, a 
common coat, and a leather helmet with an iron crest : 
a costume less appropriate could not easily have been im- 
agined. The peasant women of this province are very 
ordinary, and wear huge pewter breast-buckles uporfc 
their neck handkerchiefs. 

At Uttern, the first stage, v»^e found the governor of 
the province had ordered all the post-horses for himself 
and suite, and Avas expected every hour to return from a 
singular species of service. It appeared that an ukase 
had been passed considerably ameliorating the condition 
of the Livonian peasants, but the nature of it having 
been mistaken by three or four villages in the neighbor- 
hood of the post-house, they revolted. Two companies 
of infantry were marched against them, and after flog- 
ging half a dozen of the principal farmers, tranquillity 
was restored, and we met the soldiers returning. This 
spirit of disaffection detained us at this post-house all 
night for want of horses. 

At night a Russian, apparently of rank, of a power- 
ful and majestic figure, and elegant manners, arrived : 
after a very agreeable conversation at breakfast, he de- 
parted early in the morning for Moscow, to which city 
he gave us a cordial invitation : the stranger proved to 
be Count P Z -, who took the lead in the gloo- 
my catastrophe which occurred in the palace of Saint 
Michael. 

In ail the post-houses is a tablet, framed and glazed, 
called the taxe, on which is printed the settled price of 
provisions, horses, and carriages. Travelling still con- 
tinued cheap, at the rate of ten-pence English for eight 
horses for an English mile ; but it v/as painful to see the 
emaciated state of these poor anijn?.ls. The roads still 



Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 295 • 

continued dreadfully sandy ; we were seldom able to go 
above three versts an hour. The little Swede, who over- 
turned us very harmlessly in the sand, a little before we 
reached Woliemar, where we dined, still preserved her 
popularity ; and, as modest simplicity frequently tri- 
umphs over presuming splendor, she diverted all the at- 
tention of the natives from her shewy and handsome 
companion. Some English travellers, who followed and 
at length overtook us, became acquainted with all our 
movements from the impression which the moving won- 
der had excited. The post-drivers in Livonia, Courland, 
and throughout Germany, are called by every person 
Schwagers, or brothers-in-law. Iri the last stage to Ri- 
ga we overtook a long line of little carts, about as high 
as a wheel-barrow, filled with hay or poultry, attended 
by peasants dressed in great slouched hats and blue jack- 
ets, going to market : the suburbs are very extensive. 
The town is fortified, and is a place of great antiquity ; 
it is remarkable only for one thing, that there is nothing 
in it worthy of observation. The necessity of setting 
the washerwoman to work detained us here two days. 

It is necessary at this place to take a fresh coin : ac- 
cordingly we went to a money-changer's shop, of which 
there are several, where the man of money sat behind 
his counter, upon which were rouleaus of various coins, 
with whom we settled the matter premising that one du- 
cut was worth three rubles and sisity copecs, in the follow- 
ing manner : 

Four ortens, or Courland guldens, make one feinfer, 

Sixteen feinfers — __ — _ one marc, 

Forty marcs — — - — one ferdinger, 

Eight ferdingers — — . — one rix dollar, 

Two rix dollars and twelve ferdingers — one ducat. 

As we quitted the last gate at Riga, where we under- 
v;ent a tedious examination of passports, we crossed the' 
Duna, a river which penetrates a great \Aay into Poland, 
and supplies all these parts with the natural treasure of 
that country ; part of the bridge which is built of fir, 



296 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. 

floats upon the water, and part rests upon sand in the 
shallows ; the whole is level and very long. A peasant 
driving by us with improper velocity, an officer ordered 
him to stop, and flogged him with a large thick whip. 

The country to Mittau, which is twenty -eight miles 
from Riga, is very luxuriant and gratifying. As this 
road is much travelled, we bargained with a man, who 
let out horses at Riga, to furnish us with six, which 
were excellent, and two skilful drivers, to carry us 
throughout to Memel. Although this part of ancient 
Poland, and the province of Livonia, constitute the gran- 
ary of the north, we frequently found the bread intolera- 
ble ; it seemed as if to two pounds of rye, one pound of 
sand had been added. We reached Mittau, the capital 
of Courland, in the evening ; the first object that an- 
nounced the town was the vast, inelegant, neglected pal- 
ace of the late sovereigns of Courland, built of brick, 
stuccoed white, standing up>on a bleak eminence, un- 
gracedby a single shrub or tree. A great part of this 
ponderous pile was some years since burned down ; a 
Dutch officer obtained a contract for rebuilding it ; and 
having got drunk everyday upon the profits of his coarse 
and clumsy ignorance, died, leaving behind him the 
whole of the southern side of this building as his appro- 
priate monument. Courland has been for some years 
incorporated with Russia, a junction which was mana- 
ged by force and finesse-. The late Empress insidiously 
excited a dispute between the Courlanders and Livoni- 
ans, respecting a canal which was to transport the mer- 
chandize of Courland into Livonia ; at which the Cour- 
landers revolted, and sought the protection of Catherine : 
upon which she sent for the reigning Duke, to consult 
with him at Petersburg ; scarcely had he passed the 
bridge of Mittau before the nobility held a meeting, and 
determined to put the country under the care of Cather- 
ine. At this assembly some disputes arose, and swords 
were draAvn, but the presence of the Russian general, 
Pahlen, instantly decided the matter : the poor Duke 
heard of the revolution at Petersburg. Mittau is a long, 
straggling, ill-built town, and most wretchedly paved. 



€hap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 29T 

On the evening of our arrival there was a great fair^ an^ 
at night, about a mile from the town, some excellent 
fire-works took place, which to enable them more dis- 
tinctly to see, two old ladies, who stood next to me on 
the bridge, brought out thciv lanihorns. At several of the 
inns we saw people regaling themselves with beer soup^ 
a great dainty in this country and in many parts of Ger- 
many ; it is composed of beer, yolks of eggs, wheat and 
sugar, boiled together. We departed from Mittau, the 
next morning, and passed through the most enchanting 
forest scenery, composed of pines, aspins, oak, nut-trees^ 
and larch ; at some distance we saw a wolf cross the 
road. Upon quitting the luxuriant fields, and rich and 
cheerful peasantry, of the ci-devant duchy of Courland,. 
a number of wooden cottages with high sloping roofs, 
and rows of crosses, about fifteen feet high, with large 
wooden crucifixes affixed to them, raised on the road 
side, and peasants with fur caps and short pelisses, an- 
nounced that we were in that part of Poland which fell 
to the Russians in the last partition ; a mere slip of land, 
not broader than ten English miles. As we did not 
penetrate into that interesting country, I had not a per-- 
sonal opportunity of ascertaining whether the Poles, now 
that the first shock of separation and national extinction 
is over, are more happy than they were before their final 
dismemberment. However, I was assured by a very 
intelligent friend, who had recently returned from a tour 
through the heart of Poland, that the condition of the 
people, most unjustifiable as the means employed were, 
is considerably ameliorated : an assurance which may 
the more readily be believed, when it is considered that, 
as a nation, their constitution was radically mischievous, 
and that their political atmosphere, was never free from 
storm and convulsion. It has been said, that the great 
patriot, and last defender of Poland, has declared, since 
her fate has been decided, that it was better for his coun- 
try to be thus severed, and placed under the various pro- 
tections of other powerful governments, than to remain 
an eternal prey to all the honors of an elective mon- 
archy, baronial tyranny, and intestine dissension. At 



298 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. 

Polangen, celebrated for the amber found in its neigh- 
borhood, we reached the barrier of the Russian empire ; 
a Cossac of the Don, who stood at a circular sentry-box, 
by the side of a stand of perpendicular spears, let slip 
the chain, the bar arose, and we dropped into a deep road 
of neutral sand.) and at the distance of about an English 
mile and a half stopped to contemplate two old weather- 
beaten posts of demarkation, surmounted with the eagles 
of Prussia and Russia, badly painted, where, after we 
had, in mirth, indulged ourselves in standing at the same 
time in both countries, we placed ourselves under the 
wing of the Prussian eagle, and arrived to a late dinner 
at Memel. 

Here we found an excellent inn. To our landlady 
one of the gentlemen said, " I wish to change some mo- 
" ney, and should like to speak to your husband." " If 
" you do, you had better go to the church-yard," said his 
relic, who was herself apparently dying of a dropsy, Me- 
mel is a large commercial town, lying on the shores of 
the Baltic, most wretchedly paved, and for ever covered 
with mud ; yet the ladies figured away in nankeen shoes 
and silk stockings, and displayed many a well-turned an- 
kle. In the citadel, w^hich commands an agreeable view 
of the town, we sav/ the prisons, which appeared to be 
very wretched. The men, and shocking to tell, the wo- 
men also, were secured by irons fastened between the 
knee and calf of either leg. Upon my remonstrating 
v.'ith the gaoler, v/ho spoke a little English, against the 
unnecessary cruelty, and even indecency, of treating his 
female prisoners in this manner, he morosely observed, 
*'• that he had more to apprehend from the women than 
" the men : that the former were at the bottom of all 
" mischief, and therefore ought to be ever more guarded 
" against." 

We waited at Memel two days, in hourly expectation 
of the wind changing, that we might proceed to Koning- 
berg by water, instead of wading over a tract of moun- 
tainous sand, eighty English miles long, and not more 
than three in breadth in its broadest part, called the Cu- 
riche Haff, that runs up within half a mile of Memel, 



Ghap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 299 

and divides the Baltic from an immense space of water 
which flows within one stage of Koningberg. During 
this period, I every day attended the parade and drills, 
and was shocked at the inhuman blows which upon every 
petty occasion, assailed the backs of the soldiers, not 
from a light supple cane, but a heavy stick, making eve- 
ry blow resound. My blood boiled in my veins, to see 
a little deformed bantam officer, covered with, almost 
extinguished by, a huge cocked hat, inflicting these dis- 
graceful strokes, that, savagely as they were administer- 
ed, cut deeper into the spirit than the flesh, upon a portly 
respectable soldier for some trivial mistake. I saw no 
such severity in Russia, where some of the finest troops 
in the world may be seen. I observed, not only here 
but in other parts of Prussia, that every soldier is pro- 
vided with a sword. The river which runs up to the 
town from the Baltic, was crowded with vessels ; the 
market-boats were filled with butter, pumkins, red on- 
ions, and Baltic fish in wells. 



300 irO:RTHERN SUMMEE. [Chap.21. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Desolate scene — English sailor wrecked — Konntngherg"-' 

JBeaiitij in boots— 'Friissian roads — The celebrated ruina 

of Mari^nbourg — Da7itzig — Coquetry in a box — Inhos- 

pitalitij — J German Jew—^Tht little grocer-^Dutch w- 

car of Braij'-^Verses to a pretty Dantzicker. 

AS the wind shewed no disposition to change in our 
favor, we embarked with our horses and carriages^ 
in the feny-boats, and proceeded on the Curiche Half: 
by keeping the right wheels as much as we could in the 
Baltic, which frequently sun'ounded us, we arrived at the 
first post-house, which lay in the centre of mountains of 
sand. Here we learned that some preceding travellers 
had carried away all the horses, and accordingly our hos- 
tess recommended us to embark with our vehicles in a 
boat which is kept for such emergences, and proceed by 
the lake to the next stage ; which advice we accepted, 
and v/ere indebted to a ponderous fat young lady belong- 
ing to the post-house, who waded into the water, and, 
turning her back towards us, shoved us off" from the 
beech. We set sail with a favorable light breeze, which 
died away after we had proceeded about seven English 
miles, when we put into a creek before a few little wretch- 
ed fishing huts, under the roof of which with cocks, 
hens, ducks, pigs, and dogs, we passed an uncomfortable 
night : just as we were lying down an English sailor en- 
tered the room, with a face a little grave, but not dejected, 
to see, as he said, some of his countrymen, " hoping no 
" offence :" the poor fellow, we found, had been wrecked 
a few nights before, on the Baltic side of this inhospita- 
ble region. After hearing his tale and making a little 
collection for him, we resigned ourselves to as much 
sleep as is allotted to those who are destined to be attack- 
ed by battalions of fleas. In the morning we could ob- 
tain no post-horses, the wind was against us, and at least 
eight English miles lay between us and the post-house. 



€hai'.21.] northern SUMMER. 301 

Hoping for some fortunate change, I resolved to look 
about me, and after considerable fatigue, ascended one of 
those vast sandy summits which characterize this cheer- 
less part of the globe : from the top, on one side, lay the 
Baltic, and on its beach the cordless masts and hull of a 
wreck, high and dry ; on the other, the lake which had 
borne us thus far, and before and behind a line of moun- 
tains of sand, many of them I should suppose to be a 
hundred feet high, over whose sparkling surface the eye 
cannot wander for two minutes together without expe- 
riencing the same sensations of pain as are felt upon con- 
templating snovf : below, in a bladeless valley, stood two 
wretched horses, almost skeletons, scarcely making any 
shadow in the sun : the natives of tliis sandy desert, we 
were afterwards informed by a respectable authority, eat 
live eels dipped in salt, which they devour as they 
writhe with anguish round their hands. The whole of 
this hideous vvaste looked like the region of famine. 

A shift of wind springing up, we ventured once more 
«pon the lake ; and after a little fair sailing, we were 
driven, in our little open boat, v/here there was scarcely 
room for the helmsman to steer, nearly out of. sight of 
land ; the wind freshened to a gale, and the rain fell 
heavily : at last v/hen v/e had renounced all sanguine 
expectations of ever touching land agiin, a favorable 
breeze sprung up, and about ten o'clock at night we 
reached the quay of the post-house called Nidden, and 
after supping, were shewn into a large gloomy room 
to our cribs, where we were surrounded by at least four- 
teen sleeping damsels, lying with their clothes on, in 
filth and coarseness, fit to be the inamoratas of the coal- 
heavers of London. The next morning, as we w^ere 
preparing to start we were presented with an enormous 
bill, which made us feel like the Clown in As You Like 
It, when he exclaims, " It strikes a man more dead than 
" a great reckoning in a little room.." This im.position, 
after much altercation, w^e successfully resisted. 

As we approached Koningberg the country assumed 
a more agreeable aspect ; at the inns we found better 
accommodations, andm.et with what tousv/asa great 

B b 



302 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 21, 

treat, excellent potatoes, a vegetable which has only been 
introduced into the north within these twenty years. It 
is scarcely possible to conceive the dreadful state of the 
roads during the last stage from Mulsen : it was a suc- 
cession of pits. On the tenth of October we saw tbe 
spires of Koningberg, and after passing the place of exe- 
cution, where three posts were standing, surmounted 
with wheels, upon which malefactors are exposed, we 
entered the ancient capital of Prussia Proper : as we 
were proceeding to the Ditchen Hause, a noble hotel, 
we passed a vast antique and gloomy pile of red brick ; 
one of my companions pronounced it to be either the 
gaol or the palace ; it proved to be the latter, and to be 
inhabited by the governor : in the church adjoining, 
Frederick the Great was crowned. The city was first 
founded in 1255 ; is extensive, having fourteen parishes ; 
the streets are narrow, terribly paved, and have no foot- 
path ; almost every woman I saw was handsome, and 
wore great thick boots, and a black ribbon tied in a bow 
in the front of their caps. We were obliged to stay 
here two days, on account of the wheels of the Utile 
Swede ha\T.ng presented a strong disposition to renounce 
a circle for a square. The parade exhibited three fine 
regiments : previous to their forming the line we were 
again shocked with several instances of the severity of 
Prussian drilling. The King of Prussia scarcely ever 
visits this city. The trade is very considerable : one 
thousand vessels sailed last year into its ports. The 
river Pregel, which is here rather shallow, was crowded 
with market boats, filled with fish, butter, bread, plumbs, 
and Bergamot pears. I was present at a marriage cere- 
mony in one of the reformed Catholic churches, which 
was very simple : the priest joined the hands^ of the 
couple, and addressed them extemporaneously with con- 
siderable eloquence, as it was explained to me, invoking 
them to constancy, to love and cherish each other. 
The young bride and bridegroom seemed much affected, 
and shed many tears. 

Upon my return to the inn, where it was again my 
Mg) in common with the rest of the party, to sleep ux 



Chap. 21.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 303 

the ball-room, I found a little gentleman \vith a neat bob- 
wig, a narrow rim of a beard, just sufficient with his 
features to denote that he was a member of tlie syna- 
gogue ; the object of his visit was to change our money 
for a new currency, as under : 

Twenty -four groschen, or ninety kleine, or three gulder, 
or thirty ditchen, are equal to - - one dollar. 
Three dollars and four groschen - - one ducat. 
The price of posting is ten groschen per horse, per on6 
German mile, or four English miles and a half. 

A courier ha.ving arrived to secure about a hundred 
post-horses for the new married couple, the Grand 
Duchess of Russia and the Prince of Saxe Weimar and 
suite, who were on their route from Russia to Weimar, 
we lost not a minute to put ourselves in motion ; and the 
little Swede ^ who began now to be much despised, beinp* 
completely repaired, we reached Frauemborg the next 
evening, where we stopped the carriage at the foot of an 
almost perpendicular hill, crowned with a vast extensive 
edifice of red brick, including a monastery and a Catholic 
church: it was dusk as I ascended this height, from 
which there was a fine view of the luxuriant country 
through which we had passed, and immediately below 
us a wide-spreading beach and the sea. One of the 
monks conducted us to the church, which is very large, 
and the awfulness of the scene v/as increased by the mys- 
terious gloom which pervaded every part of this massy 
pile : we had only time to see the tomb of Copernicus, 
whose remains, we were assured, repose under a plain 
stone slab which was shewn to us upon the pavement. 
At the last stage, to my great regret, a majority of the 
party resolved upon seeing Dantzig. 

It is impossible for an Englishman who has never left 
his own country, to form any notion of the Prussian roads 
in general, particularly of that which lay before us to 
Elbing : I cannot say that we moved by land or by water, 
but in a skilful mixture of both, through which we 
evaded, axletree-deep, over trees laid across each other at 



304 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 21. 

tinequal distances. To complain would be useless ; 
moreover, the inost terrible of joltings, every minute 
threatening a general dislocation, would hazard the 
repining tongue being severed by the teeth. 

We reached Elbing to breakfast : a very neat town, 
not unlike a swallow's nest, which is within very comfor- 
table, and without nothing but sticks and mud. Conside- 
rable commerce is carried on, and the appearance of the 
people is respectable, prosperous, and happy. The fruit 
and vegetable sellers carry their articles in little pails, 
suspended at the ends of a curved stick, like the milk 
Y/omen of London. The houses are very singular ; but, 
as they resemble those of Dantzig, one description will 
be sufficient. 

The post from Elbing to Marienbourg is nineteen 
English miles, a tremendous long stage ; indeed, an au- 
tumnal day's journey upon such roads, which were pre- 
cisely the same as those we had already passed, except 
that we had the variety of an endless row of shabby som- 
bre willow pollards. Our poor horses halted several times, 
when they had a copious libation of water, but noth- 
ing else. The German postilions seem to think with Dr. 
Sangrado, that nothing is so nourishing as water ; and, 
what is more surprizing, the horses seem to think so too. 
I have seen a German horse drink three large pails full, 
as fast as his driver could supply him. To - cheer our 
postilions, we gave them occasionally some snaps, or 
glasses of excellent brandy, that we had vvith us, which 
the fellows drank ; and, with a smile, seemed ready v,ith 
Caliban to exclaim : 

" That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor." 

In the evening we reached Marienbourg, a small 
tOM'n once celebrated for being the principal residence of 
the Kni^'hts of the Teutonic Order, as I have before 
mentioned, who raised a castle, and several other struc- 
tures, in a style of unrivalled gothic magnificence, in the 
twelfth century. To these hallowed remains, so treas- 
tirable to the reflecting mind, Frederick the Greatj al- 



Chap. 21.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 5G5 

though a professed admirer of antiquities and of art, 
paid no veneration. The hoary pile has been beaten 
down, to furnish materials for buildidg Prussian bar- 
racks, hospitals, and magazines, and scarcely any vestige 
is left of this pride of ages but the chapel : in the v^^in- 
dow of which, is a colossal wooden Virgin but little de- 
faced ; and, by her size and shape, entitled to associate 
with Gog and Magog, in the Guildhall of London. 

We w^P€ -thirteen hours in reaching Dantzig from Ma- 
rienbo^'g, a distance of thirty English miles, through a 
country abounding with corn-fields, in one of which we 
counted nine bustards, each of them larger than a turkey. 
After passing several monasteries, beautifully embosom- 
ed in trees, and the suburbs of Dantzig, extending near- 
ly two English miles, we reached the draw -bridge, and 
entered the capital of Pomerelia in the evening ; and, at 
the Hotel de Lion Blanc-, which was very crowded at the 
time of our arrival, we were very glad to resume our old 
quarters, to which we appeared to have a travelling pre- 
scriptive right, a vast bail and card room. 

Nothing can exceed the fantastic appearance of the 
houses, which are very lofty, and have vast sloping roofs, 
the fronts of which are surmounted with lions, angels, 
sons, griffins. Sec. Th« whidov/s are very large and 
square ; and the outsides of these edifices are generally 
painted with brown or green colors, with great softness 
and variety : in the streets, which are wretchedly paved, 
and narrow, and, if the atmosphere be damp, covered 
ankie-deep with mud, are several noble chesnut and wal- 
nut trees. The Rathhaus, or Hotel de Ville, is an ele- 
gant spiral structure of stone, with a variety of elaborate 
decorations. The prison is w^ell arranged : on one side 
are felons ; and, on the other, the house of correction, 
where the women are separated from the men. The fe- 
raiale prisoners, many of whom were servants, sent by 
their masters or mistresses for misbehavior, to receive 
the discipline of the house, were employed in carding 
and spinning, and arc obliged to produce, at the end of 
the week, a certain quantity of work ; or, in default, re- 
ceive a whipping : the prisoners looked healthy and 
clean. 

B b 2 



306 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2K 

The Lutheran church is a noble structure : in one of 
the towers is a gloomy well, into which ceitf«in offenders 
against the catholic faith, many years since, used to be 
let down, and left to perish : the stirrups and chains by 
which they descended were shewn to us. The Bourse 
is most whimsically decorated with a marble statue of 
Augustus III., king of Poland, models of ships, heavy 
carvings in wood, and great dingy pictures. The Vistu- 
la, the largest and longest river in Poland, after spring- 
ing from mount Crapach, on the confines of Silesia, and 
crossing Poland and Prussia, washes the walls of Dant- 
zig, and falls into the Baltic. Upon this river a stranger 
cannot fail being struck with the singular appearance of 
the Polish grain-boats, in shape resembling a canoe, ma- 
ny of which are eighty feet long, by fourteen broad, 
without any deck, and have a single elastic mast, taper- 
ing to the top, fifty, and even sixty, feet high, upon 
which they fasten a small light sail that is capable of be^ 
ing raised, or depressed, so as to catch the wind, above 
the undulating heights of the shores of the Vistula. We 
saw several store-houses of salt : the only sak merchant 
in the Prussian dominions is the King, who has the mo- 
nopoly. The exportations of corn from this city are 
amazing ; and it may justly be considered as the grain 
depot of Europe. The exportation of grain, for the 
preceding year, amounted to thirty-four thousand one 
hundred and forty -nine lasts ; a last being equal to eigh- 
ty-four Winchester bushels : that of the year before to 
fifty -two thousand four hundred and sixteen. The peo- 
ple appear to be at length reconciled to the loss of their 
hanseatic sovereignty, and, having no remedy, subm-it 
themselves "without repining to the Prussian sceptre. 
Mirabeau, one of the most brilliant orators of lus age, 
said, " that the Dantzickers, who, according to appear- 
" ances, supposed kings were hobgoblins, were so en- 
" raptured to meet with one who did not tat their chil- 
« dren, that in the excess ©f their enthusiasm, they were 
" willing to put themselves, witliout restrednt under the 
" Prussian government.'* 



Chap. 21.] NORTHERN SUMMER, 307 

On a Sunday we visited the theatre, a handsome ro* 
tunda, wher*; we saw, the great favorite of the Germans, 
the tragedy of Mary Queen of Scots, between whom, 
and the sanguinary Elizabeth, the author effected an in- 
terview : there was no after-piece as usual. The form of 
the theatre before the curtain, was three parts of a circle ; 
and the scenery, dresses, and decorations, were all 
handsoine. The grand drop scene, used instead of a 
curtain, was sprinkled with gigantic heads, and had a 
very strange and whimsical appearance. Nothing could 
exceed the polite and profound attention paid to the bu- 
siness of the stage : if any one of the audience only 
whispered rather loudly, all eyes were turned towards 
him, and a buz of general disapprobation made him si- 
lent. In the box, next to that in which I sat, was a lady 
of fashion, remarkably deformed ; in age, I should sup- 
pose, touching the frontier of desperation, dressed in a 
white robe, and a garland of artificial flowers ; to attract 
more notice, she was knitting a rich silk purse : the 
whole of the party exchanged frequent glances with her ; 
but, alas 1 had she known what was passing between the 
eye ancj the mind, our homage would not have proved 
very acceptable. 

In Dantzig, every thing partakes of that petty spirit 
which is^ too often engendered by traffic amongst small 
communities of mercantile men. Heaven protect the 
being who visits this city without a commercial com- 
mission 1 As we were walking by the Bourse, we request- 
ed a German Jew, who had the appearance of a gentle- 
man, to shew us the way to a commercial house to get 
some money exchanged ; upon which he offered to ac- 
company us. " We cannot. Sir, think of troubling you : 
" if you will only direct us, it will be suflicient,'* said my 
German friend and companion. " Oh ! Gentlemen," 
replied the descendant of Abraham, " I beg you will not 
" mention it ; you will of course pay me for my trouble 
" and I shall be happy to attend you." 

Having parted with my friend, who proceeded to Ber- 
lin, I went to Fare Wasser, with a view of embarking 
for Copenhagen, which would have considerably curtail 



308 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 21. 

ed my journey to Husum ; biit the wind being contrary, 
and blowing a hurricane, mid several English captains, 
who were there, assuring me that it frequently continu- 
ed so for three weeks and a month together, after spend- 
ing three cheerless days in hopes that a change might 
take place, I returned to Dantzig, where, without know- 
ing a human being, for this city was not originally in- 
cluded in our route, I presented myself at the counting- 
house of an elderly Englishman, a denizen of Dantzig, 
and, in the presence of a host of clerks, detaled my sto- 
ry, and requested that he would be so oblig^ing as to per- 
mit one of thern, who spoke English, to attend me a 
few minutes to the post-house, that I might endeavor to 
overtake my friends. The hoary merchant, with an 
immoveable countenance, coldly looked at me, and brief- 
ly replied, " It is our post day ;'* and, v^'ithout saying 
another v/ord, returned to his accompts. It reminded 
me of Gadshiil and the Carrier, in the first part of Hen- 
ry the Fourth : 

*' Gad. I pray thee, lend me ihy Untern, to see my gelding in the 

stable. 
*' Car. Lend thee my lantern, quotha ! Marry, I'll see thee hanged 

first." 

This Englishman had grown old in the traffic of Dant- 
zig, and the generous spirit of his country had been in- 
durated into the selfishness of accumulation. 

The Hale Siucde Vt^as now in the lowest state ' of depre- 
ciation : the post-m.aster thought her unworthy of being- 
drawn by a Prussian prancer, and absolutely refused to 
put a horse into the shafts ; at the same time he offered 
me a ducat that is nine shillings and sixpence, for her. 
I would have set fire to iier, sooner than that he should 
have had her. The god of gold seemed to have made 
this spot his favorite temple, to have constituted a bag of 
corn his chosen altar, and to have recorded his oracles in 
a ledger : the ramparts of the town seem preserved only 
to repel hospitaliliy and generosity. The Dan tzickers keep 
a cash account of civilities, and never indulge in festivity 
without resorting to calculation. A calculating coun- 



Chap. 21.] NORTHERN SUMMER. S09 

tenance under a little bob-^Yig, shining brushed cocked- 
hat that has seen good service, a brown coat, waistcoat 
and breeches of the same color, worsted stockings, a pair 
of shining little silver buckles, and an ivory-headed cane, 
denote the thrifty Dantzicker : the very beggar in the 
streets seems to expect a double proportion of bounty 
for his misfortune and for^the trouble of asking relief. 
As I was purchasing some articles at a grocer's for my 
journey, his wife held a little child in her arms, not old 
enougli to speak, to whom I gave a pear, and presently 
after I presented him with a gulden, a little coin, which 
lie griped, apparently with the same instinct that would 
induce a young bear to rifle a honey jar, and dropped the 
fruit. The little grocer seemed much pleased with his 
son's preference ; and, in German, as well as I could un- 
derstand him, exclaimed, " that he would make a brave 
" tradesman." 

In this place, where there were so many of my own 
countrymen settled, accident led me to the civilities of a 
polite and amiable young JDutchman, who had not staid 
long enough in Dantzig to lose every liberal sentiment. 
" How strange," said I, " that amongst the residents of 
" this place you alone should wish to serve an unfortu- 
'•'• nate solitary Englishman ; an-A that, too, whilst our 
^' respective countries are at war i" "It is true, our coun- 
'' tries are at war," said he, in good English ; " but Avhat 
" is that to us ? every man tvhom I can sei^'e is my coun- 
*^ try man J'* 

Through the medium of this gentleman, I hired a 
man to go with me all the way to Berlin (who, on such 
occasions, is called a fuhrmrai), instead of going post, to 
avoid as much as possible the galling pressure of Prus- 
sian imposition. To the friendly Dutchman I sold the 
little Swede for ten ducats, Y\^hich he vowed he would 
brush up and paint, and drive with into the country. On 
the day preceding my departure, my Dutch friend rela- 
ted the following story. Being at church one Sunday, 
at Alkmaar, when that town v/as in tlie possession of the 
English forces, previous to the sermon the preacher 
prayed very fervently for the long life of his Majesty 



310 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2 i. 

George III., and the prosperity of England. Scarcely- 
had he finished this pious compliment, before an inha- 
bitant entered, and announced that the English forces 
were retiring, and that the French were about to resume 
the protection of the place : upon hearing which, this 
Dutch Vicar of Bray explained to his audience, that the 
supplication v/hich they had just lieard was coerced ; but 
that now, being able to follow the spontaneous emotions 
of his own heart, he begged them to unite with him in 
offering up a prayer to the throne of grace, to bless and 
preserve General Brune and the French armies 1 

Before I met with the courteous Dutchman, the only 
consolation which I found, was in sitting in the same 
room with the young Maitresse d' hotel de Lion Blanc^ 
where, without knowing each other's language, we con- 
trived to pass away the hours not unpleasantly. The 
beauty and sprightliness of this young woman produced 
ihe following yew d' esprit : 

The sign of the house should be chang'd, I'll be sworn, 
Where enchanted we find so much beauty and grace i 

Then quick from the door let the lix)n be torn, 

And an angel expand her white wings in his place- 

The young Dutchman translated it into German, an€ 
presented it to the fair one. 



€«AP.22.1 NORTHERN SUMMER/ 3U 



CHAPTER XXIL 

Reflections ufion a stuhhuaggo?i— -Prussian villages — J[£l' 
itary manoeuvres — Irish rebel— ^Berlin'— *Linden lualk^—* 
T'oleration — Prussian dinner— ^Cheap, living'— >The pa- 
lace — Cadet corps, 

THE traveller going to Germany will be under the 
necessity of changing his money as under : 

Twenty-four good, or ninety Prussian groschen, arc 
equal to one dollar, or three Prussian guilders. 

N. B. Six Prussian dollars are equal to one pound En- 
glish. 

When the stuhlwaggon, that was to carry me to Ber- 
lin, a distance of upwards of three hundred English 
miles, in the stipulated time of eight days, drove up to 
the door, I observed that it had no springs, consequently 
I could not be detained on the road by their breaking ; 
that I should be nearly jolted to death, but that would 
be an admirable substitute for want of exercise ; that I 
should not be able to sleep by day, consequently I should 
sleep the better by night ; that my driver could not 
speak English, nor I three words of German, ergo^ we 
should associate like a couple of dumb waiters, and my 
reflections, if chance any should arise, would not be 
shaken. Having settled all these points in m.y mind, 
with infinite pleasure I passed the draw -bridge of this 
seat of extortion and inhospitaiity, and as soon as Ave had 
cleared the suburbs and dropped into a deep sandy 
road, my heavy unimpassioned driver took from his 
waistcoat pocket a piece of dry fungus, and holding it 
under a flint, with a small steel struck a light, kindled his 
pipe, and was soon lost in smoke, and.a happy vacuity of 
thought. Although the red leavesjof retiring autumn were 
falling in showers from the trees, the country appeared 
very picturesque and rich. After we passed the town and 
abbey of Oliva, the latter celebrated for containing in 



S13 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 22^ 

one of its chambers the table on which the treaty of peace 
was sit^ned betwecii the crowned heads of Germany, 
Poland, and Sweden, called the Trer-ty of Oliva, my 
driver turned into a bye road, the inequaiides of which I 
can compi.re to nothing but those of a chiirch-yard, 
thronged with graves ; we v/ere several limes obliged 
to alight, in order to support the ciirriage on one side 
whilst it crawled along the edge of a miry bank. The 
uncertainty of a German mile never fails to puzzle a 
traveller : there is a long and a short one ; the former is 
as indefinite as a Yorkshire mile, which I believe is 
from steeple to steeple, som.etimes it means five, six, 
and seven English miles, the latter I have already ex- 
plained. 

On the road every Prussian was at once equipped for 
his bed and for a ball, by having his head adorned with 
a prodigious cocked hat, and a night-cap under it. The 
Prussian farm-houses were either tiled or very neatly 
thatched : some of them were built of brick, and others 
cf a light brown clay, but the favorite color is thiit of 
vivid Hesh, were remt^rkably neat ; the ground exhibit- 
ed the marks of high cultivation, and the farmers looked 
rich and respectable, and perfectly English. Although 
the scii is sandy, yet from its fineness it is capable of 
bearing all sorts of vegetables^-for the kitchen : out 
of four grains of rye sown, the tillers calculate that one 
will rise. By the time I reached Stolpe, I had formed 
a little budget of current German expressions, which, at 
the inn in that town, enabled me to understand a man- 
who said to me, " Pray sir, are you a Frenchman ?" 
*^ No, I am an Englishman." " x\h, sir, so much the 
" better for you, and so much the more agreeable to me," 
said he. I wondered to hear such language from Prus- 
sian lips : but I afterwards found the man who address- 
ed me was a Dutchman. 

The road to Berlin has, in one respect, a great advan- 
tage, there is a constant and rapid succession of towns 
and villages, but no scattered cottages : upon every ac- 
clivity the traveller commands six or seven spires rising 
from little clumps of trees, and clusters of houses the 



^HAP/22.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 313 

Toad to each of these small communities for about a 
quarter of a mile is paved with large rough angular 
stones, which constitute the pride of the parish, and are 
Drought from a great distance, and with considerable 
cost. Upon my wishing them at the devil one day, 
"^vhich I never failed to do as often as I had to contend 
with them, my driver turned round and said, " Do not 
^' wish them there : do you know that each of those 
^^Jine stones cost four good groschen ?" 

In Prussia, robberies very seldom happen : the Prus- 
sians only pilfer in the shape of extortion, 

** And for a pistol they present a bill." 

Having seen many Englishmen travel through their 
country with a moveable arsenal of arms in their car- 
riages, united to the received opinion that suicide pre- 
vails more in England than in any other country, they 
conclude that the preparation is not against robbers, but 
to furnish their owner with a choice of deaths, if his 
ennui is not dissipated by roving. 

My adventures upon the road were few, and not wor- 
thy of relation, except that my driver was very fond of 
quitting the main road for every short cut, in which we 
were frequently obliged, carriage and all, to spring as 
"well as we could over a small ditch ; having repeatedly 
warned him that we should be overturned, at last my 
prediction was verified, the wheels were uppermost, and 
we lay sprawling in the road : as soon, as I could look 
around me I found the diiver in great agony, and con- 
cluded that he had at least shattered a rib or a leg : but 
the misfortune was a much greater one in his estimation, 
he had broken his pipe, ^Yhich lay in the road by the side 
of scattered provisions and trunks ; he lamented his loss 
bitterly, and frequently, as we were replacing matters, 
apostrophized the remains of this natural and inestima- 
ble source of German comfort. We frequently passed 
through the most beautiful avenues of majestic oak, 
stately lindens, and graceful beech and birch trees. I 
found the inns very poor : at Pinnow I slept upon a bed 

C c 



314 NORTHERN SUIMMER. [Chap.SS^ 

of straw. In the best room are generally the depot of 
the Sunday gowns, the best crockery, two or th.'ee filthy 
straw beds, a stove of black Dutch tiles, one or two corn 
chests, a chair with a broken back, jars of butter : adjoin- 
ing there is generally a room for the daughter or upper 
servant of the host, who reclines her sv.eet person upon 
a bed placed upon a corn-bin, and surrounded by a winter 
stock of potatoes. If the traveller fasten the door of his 
bed-room he will be under the necessity of rising to open 
it, twenty times after he is, in bed, that the master or 
mistress of the house may have access to something or 
another which is deposited in his chamber. 

The winter was now rapidly setting in, and in every 
post-house the stoves were warmed : before one of then! 
some peasant children v*'ere reposing upon forms, and 
their mother standing with her back against it, fast 
asleep. The peasants erect their ovens, which are made 
of clay, about seven feet high in the shape of a dome, at 
the extremity of their orchards, removed as far as pos- 
sible from any thatch. All the roads and bye-lanes in 
Prussia are abundantly supplied with legible and intelli- 
gible directing posts, representing a negro's head, with 
large white eyes, and a pig tail, whilst two long stiff 
arms point the wanderer on his way. The want of this 
species of attention to travellers in England is severely 
felt. It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the 
universal language of Prussia is German. 

The garrison towns are numerous, at which the tra- 
Teller is obliged to furnish the officer of the guard v.ith 
his name, condition, and motive of travelling. The sol- 
diers looked to great advantage ; they have a favorite, 
and much admired manoeuvre, of forming hollow squares 
by sections, which at present is confined to the Prussian 
service ; and by means of a hollow curve, at the bottom 
of the barrel of the Prussian musket, leading into the 
pan, through a large touch-hole, no priming is necessary, 
or rather tiie loading primes, by which several motions- 
are saved. With this improvement, and a hccvy ram- 
rod, an expert Prussian soldier, even with Prussian pow- 
der, far inferor to that of England, can load and fire 
twelve times in one minute. A soldier who had not 



Ghap. 22.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 315 

long been enlisted, performed these motions in my pre- 
sence ten times in that period by my watch. 

At Konigberg, as I was sitting down to dinner, a port- 
ly soldier, in the Prussian uniform, opened the door, 
and addressed me in English. With much address and 
respect, under the venial pretence of my not having 
written my name legibly at the barrier, he introduced 
himself to mie, and enabled me very soon to discover 
tiiat he was one of those infatuated Irishmen, who hav- 
ing incurred the displeasure of the British government, 
had been plucked from a station of respectability, and 
the bosom of a beloved family, exiled from his country, 
and doomed to wear the habit, and endure the discipline 
of a Prussian soldier for ten wretched years, five of which 
he had already survived. The poor fellow acknov/ledged 
the fatal delusion which had thus torn him from all that 
Was )deear to him, and reduced him to the humiliation of 
gladly receiving a dollar from a stranger. 

Between Gruneberg and Freyenwalde I passed the 
Oder, which flows to the walls of Olmutz, rendered em- 
inently familiar to the memory by the cruel captivity of 
La Fayette, and the spirit of British generosity which 
restored him and his lovely Marchioness to light and 
liberty. 

Upon our leaving Freyenwalde, we ploughed our way 
through the dark forests and trackless sands oi Branden- 
bourg, the latter of which FredeHc the Great highly 
valued as a national barrier, capable of impeding and 
embarrassing an approaching enemy. Of their depth 
and dreariness no one can judge, but those who have wa- 
ded through them : we quitted them with great joy to 
roll merrily along over a noble new royal road, of alDout 
ten English miles in length, lined with sapling lindens ; 
and, early on the eighth day from my leaving Dantzig^, 
I passed the gate of the v\^all which surrounds Berlin, 
and with forty-one ducats discharged my companion at 
the Hotel de Russie. 

Having refreshed myself, I sallied into the Linden 
Walk, which is very broad, is formed of triple rov/s of 
the graceful and umbrageous tree from which it receives 



316 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 22 

its name, and is situated in the centre of the street,, 
having carriage roads on each side, from whi<>h it is pro- 
tected by a handsome line of granite posts connected by- 
bars of iron, and illuminated at night by large re- 
flecting lamps, suspended over the centre by cords, 
stretched from corresponding supporters of wrought 
iron : its length is about an English mile, and presents^ 
at one end the rich portico of the marble opera-house 
and the palace, and at the other the celebrated Branden- 
bourg gate, designed by Monsieur Langhans from the 
Propylium of Athens, and raised in 1780. This superb 
monument of tasteful architecture is a stone colonnade,, 
of a light reddish-yellow color, composed of twelve 
grand fluted Corinthian colunms, forty-four feet high, 
and five feet seven inches in diameter, six on each side, 
leaving a space for the gates to fold between, presenting 
five colossal portals, through which the park is se^ in 
fine perspective. The wings composing the custom and 
guard houses are adorned with eighteen lesser columns,, 
twenty -nine feet high and three feet in diameter : the 
whole is crowned by colossal figures of the Angel of 
Peace driving fou^r horses abreast in a triumphal car, be- 
low which are ricJi basso-relievos. This most elegant 
structure, and the Walk of Lindens, are unique, and 
would abundantly repay any traveller for the fatigues of 
^.n eight days'" journey to behold them. In the walk, 
although the weather was very cold, several ladies were 
promenading without caps or bonnets, and others were 
riding astride on horseback, according to the fashion of 
the country, in a long riding habit, pantaloons, and half- 
boots. In the street scarcely any other objects were to 
be seen, than 

*' the soldier and his sword.** 

Upon ascending the gallery of the superb dome of the 
institution of the poor, in the grand market place, I 
commanded the wall of the city, the dimensions of 
which are small, I should not think larger than those of 
Bath ; but having been the result of one design, and in 



Chap. 52.] NORTHERN SUMMER. SVr 

a great measure built in one reign, it has the advantage 
of being regular. The river Spree runs through it, and 
is adorned by some handsome stone bridges. The streets 
are spacious, and, to the surprise of a stranger, are well 
paved for carriages and pedestrians, although nature has 
refused to furnish the country with a single stone : this 
denial has been supplied by the policy of Frederick the 
Great, who made all the vessels that came up the Elbe, 
the Hawel, or the Spree, take on board at Magdeburg a 
certain quantity of freestone, and disembark it at Berlin 
gratis. The houses are generally built of brick stucco- 
ed, but some are of stone, in the Italian style of archi- 
tecture. The palace of Prince Henry, the brother of 
Frederick the Great, lately deceased, is built of stone ; 
but, for want of ornament, possesses but little attraction 
for the eye : the royal palace is an enormous square pile 
of the same materials, whose massy and gloomy walls 
the reigning sovereign has wisely resigned to his court- 
iers, for a small plain mansion, opposite the common 
foundery. Mon-bijou, the residence of the Queen Dow- 
ager, is a palace, or rather a long gallery, nearly the 
whole being upon the ground floor, situated on the side 
of the river Spree, embosomed in a wood and gardens. 
The Rotunda, or Catholic church, partly designed by 
Cardinal Alberoni, is a noble edifice, the grand altar of 
which was made at Rome, and is celebrated for its beau- 
ty. Soon after Frederick the Great ascended the throne, 
he conceived the sublime idea of building a vast Panthe- 
on, in which every description of devotion might, at an 
allotted time, find its altar. Policy, if not genuine char- 
ity, induced that sagacious prince to think that tolerance 
was necessary to the interest as well as the dignity of a 
nation ; and he was desirous of not only seeing his sub- 
jects and foreigners worship their God in their way, but 
that, like brothers, they should prostrate themselves be- 
fore him in the same temple. On account of the state 
of the treasury, Frederick was successfully advised to 
drop this benign plan, and it was never afterv/ards resum- 
ed. The generality of the Prussians are Calviniata. 

C c 2 



318 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 22, 

In the evening after my arrival I went to 'New Thea- 
tre, a superb building, on the entablature of which the 
following elegant inscription appeared in German, 
" Whilst we sjnile we mend the manners." All the front 
of the inside was occupied by the royal box, formed into 
a saloon, from the centre of the ceiling of which a rich 
lustre descended, and on each side were alabaster vasea. 
The boxes were neat and well arranged. Over the cur- 
tain was u large transparent clock ; the players aa ere 
good ; the orchestra very full anftfine ; and the sceneryy 
particularly the drop, or curtain scene, very beautiful. 

The statue of the celebrated general Ziethen, the fa- 
vorite;t;of Frederick the Great, and one of the, greatest and 
bravest generals of Prussia, is well worthy the notice of 
the traveller. It is raised in Wilhelm's Platz, or Wil- 
liam's Place, upon a pedestal, on three sides of which 
are basso-relievos, representing the hero on horseback^ 
in some of the most celebrated campaigns, surrounded 
by an elegant railing : the figure of the general, in his 
hussar regimentals, is as large as life ; his hand is raised, 
to his chin, which was his usual attitude of meditation : 
it is said to be a strong resemblance, and is a fine piece 
of statuary. In this little square there are several other 
statues of Prussian generals, who distinguished them- 
selves in the seven years' war, without any inscription.. 
Upon my German friend enquiring of some of the sol- 
diers who were standing near us, their names, they 
told us they knew nothing about them. It is well known 
that no living creature is more ignorant than a Prussians 
soldier. 

As we passed to the Royal Opera-house, the cavahy 
were drilling ; the wretchedness of their horses not a 
little surprised me : the same remark applied to those 
of every other regiment of cavahy which I saw. The 
opera-house, which is never open but during the carni- 
val, is a superb and elegant building, raised by Freder- 
ick the Great. The audience are admitted gratis, by 
tickets issued by the King's authority : the pit is allotted 
to the regiments in garrison, each of which is permitted 
to senjil so many men. In the time of Frederick the 



Chap. 22.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 319 

Great, it was no unusual spectacle to see the wives of the 
soldiers sitting upon their husbands* shoulders : the in- 
ternal decorations are, I was informed, very magnificent. 

Berlin is justly celebrated for the excellence of its ho- 
tels : in my sitting room, looking upon the Linden-walk, 
I had every article of useful and elegant furniture, my 
bed-room and sopha-bed and linen were remarkably neat 
and clean, and both rooms, although the frost was set 
in with intense severity, were, by means of stoves which 
were supplied from the passage, as warm as a summer 
day.^ ?it is a received opinion, that Englishmen are sa 
accustomed to sit by their fire-sides, that they cannot 
grow warm unless they see the fire : to this remark I 
have only to observe, that I partook so insensibly of the 
atmosphere which pervaded my room, that I neither 
thought of heat, cold, or fire-places. At breskfast, the 
rolls, butter, and coffee, were delicious and the china 
beautiful. The porcelain of Berlin is very fine, and 
nearly equal to that of Saxony. In the infancy of this, 
manufactory, Frederick the Great granted permission to 
the Jews within his dominions to marry, only upon con- 
dition that they should pu^hase a certain quantity of 
this china ; by this despxotic policy he soon brought it 
into repute. At our table dhote in the hotel, the dinner, 
with little variation, was in the following order : cold 
henings and salted cucumbers, sonp, bouilli, ham with 
sliced can'Ots, honey and rice pudding, venison and 
stewed pease. In the streets were groups of female 
fruiterers, sitting before tubs filled with the finest grapes, 
and bergamot pears, walnuts, &c. From those stands a 
respectable dessert m,ay be furnished for the value of three- 
pence English. Upon the Spree were a great number of 
boats, completely laden with the finest apples and pear?» 
Living in Berlin is moderate, in the country remarkably 
cheap. A bachelor in Hesse Darmstadt, and in many 
other parts of Germany can enjoy elegant society, have 
every day a bottle of excellent wine, and keep his horse, 
for one hundred and twenty pounds per annum. 

In the audience-room of the great palace, we were 
shewn a chandelier of chrystal which cost 4,200/. ; a- 



S^O NORTHERN SUMMER. CCha?. n: 

tnongst the paintings, which are few, we noticed a por- 
trait of the Duke of Ferara, by Correglo, for which ten 
thousand ducats were given : there is also a beautiful 
statue of Marcus Aureiius, drawn up from the Tiber 
about fifty years since ; several curious and costly clocks 
and secretaries of exquisite workmanship and mechan- 
ism, one of which, should any one improperly attempt to 
open it, would betray the robber by a tune similar to that 
in the Academy of Sciences in Petersburg : we were 
also shewn a circular closet in a turret, from whence 
Frederick, in his latter days, used to contemplate the 
people in the streets. 

The Cadet corps is a noble establishment, much re- 
sembling those in F'etersburg : Ave attended a parade of 
about four hundred boys, who, as they were not sized, 
nor ranked according to age, presented a striking in- 
stance of the progress of merit, by displaying mere 
" apple-munching urchins" commanding companies of 
boys bigger than themselves. From the Cadet corps we 
tisited an exhibition of the Prussian arts and manufac- 
tures, displayed in a suite of rooms, the busts, models, 
and carpets, were beautiful : ^me of the drawings were 
pretty, but the paintings v/ere below criticism. English 
manufactures are severely prohibited in Prussia. 



Chap. 25.]. NORTHERN SUMMER 3#f 



CHAPTER XXni. 



Potsdam diligence — Potsdam^-Sans souci — Voltaire^ andJ 
dogs of Frederick the Great — J\foble firmness of an ar- 
chitect—mKing and lovely Queen of Prussia— -jinecdotes 
•—Female travelling habit — The duchy of Meckleburg 
Siverin — Return to England.. 

ON the Sunday aftea- mjr arrival, namely, the third of 
November, I seated myself, at seven o'clock in the 
morning, with an intelligent companion, in the Potsdam 
diligence, a vehicle considerably less commodious than 
that of Paris : it was without springs,^ and so villainous- 
ly put together, that the biting air pierced through a 
hundred crevices ; sliding wooden pannels supplied the 
place of glasses, and in the back part were two seats the 
occupiers of which were separated from each other by a 
stout iron bar. Our companions, male and female, were 
clad in their winter dress of muffs and fur shoes. After 
passing through a country of cornfields and fir forests, 
and some small frozen ponds, at eleven we reached the 
barrier of Potsdam, which is situated on the river Havel, 
and is formed into an isle by the adjoining lakes and ca- 
nals, about sixteen English miles from Berlin. 

Having expelled tlie cold with some soup, we hired a 
little phaeton, and immediately proceeded to Sans Souci,^^ 
distant about two English miles, which, as well as the 
neighboring country palaces, are so much the fruit of 
the great Frederick's taste, that it was like paying a visit 
to his spirit. As we proceeded to the gallery of pic- 
tures, we passed by his hot-houses, which he cherished 
with great care. So partial was his Majesty to hot- 
house fruit, that befoi'e the buildings were erected, he 
who would have scantily provided for a gallant officer mu- 
tilated in his service, did not hesitate to pay a ducat for 
a cherry ! When he was dying, his pine-apples occu* 
pied his principal attention. 



^2 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2^, 

We entered the picture gallery from the road through 
a rustic door : this room, two hundred and fifty-eight 
feet long, thirty -six broad, and fifteen high, is supported 
by CaiTara pillars, and is superbly gilded and ornament- 
ed. The collection is very select and precious : we 
principally noticed the Graces, by Dominichino ; Ver- 
tumnus and Pomona, by Leonardo da Vinci ; Titian 
and his wife, by himself : Danae and Cupid, by the same 
artist ; Venus bathing, by Corregio ; three different 
styles of Painting, by Guido ; the Holy Family, by Ra- 
phael, which cost fourteen thousand ducats ; a Cave of 
Devils, by Teniers, in which his mother and wife are 
represented as members of the infernal family, his fa- 
ther as Saint Antonio, and himself in a bonnet rou^e^ 
laughing at the group ; a Head of Christ, by Vandyke : 
Ignorance and wisdom, by Corregio ; a Head of Christ, 
upon leaf gold, by Rap>hael, for which Frederick the 
Great paid six thousand ducats ; several other paintings, 
by the same great master, upon the same ground ; a 
Virgin and Infant, by Rubens ; and severa;l other exqui- 
site works of art. There was once a beautiful little 
Magdalen here, by Raphael, which Frederick bartered 
to the Elector of Saxony for a troop of horse : this sort 
of barter seems to have been unusual. Augustus II., 
Elector of Saxony, purchased forty-eight bulky porce- 
lain vases of Frederick William I., of Prussia, for a fine 
regiment of dragoons. 

From the gallery we ascended a stair-case, and entered 
a terrace, whence a beautiful view of the river, and the 
surrounding country, lay expanded before us. As we 
proceeded to the palace, or pavilion, composed of a long 
suite of rooms upon a ground floor, the tombs of Fred- 
erick's dogs were pointed out to us, the only creatures 
for whom he entertained a cordial aftection. It is well 
known that he indulged the strange belief, that these an- 
imals possessed the power of discriminating character, 
and that he disliked those at whom they barked : most 
of these canine favorites were honored with a TOyal epi- 
taph. It is related, that whenever he went to war, he 
always carried a small Italian greyhound with him ; and 



Chap. 23.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 52f 

that when, in the seven years' war, he happened to be 
pursued by a reconnoitring party of Austriins, he 
took shelter under a dry aixh of a bridge, with Lis favor- 
ite in his arms ; and that although the enemy passed and 
repassed the bridge several times, yet the animal, natur- 
ally churlish, lay quite still, and scarcely breathed ; had 
he barked, Frederick must have been discovered and taken 
prisoner, and Prussia, in ail human probability, would 
have shared the fate of Poland, and swelled the empires 
of Russia and of Germany. There is another story 
told, the authenticity of whicli is indubit-ible : Frederick 
the Great, in his dying moments, expressed a wish to 
be buried by the side of his dogs. One of these favor- 
ites, another greyhound bitch, was taken at the battle of 
Sorr, when the baggage was plundered by Trenck and 
Nadasti. Regardless of infciior losses, the King was in 
the act of writing to Nadasti, to request his bitch might 
be restored, when the Avistrian General, knowing his 
love for the animal, which was itself greatly attached to 
him, had sent it back : the bitch, unperceived by the 
monarch, leaped upon the table while he was writing, 
and, as usual, began to caress him, at which he was so 
affected that he shed tears. The day before he had cut 
off many thousands of men, and charged his dear chil- 
dren to give no Saxon quarter. The only amiable trait 
in Frederick's composition was of a canine nature : he 
possessed nothing to attach man to him but his fondness 
for dogs. ,v' 

We saw the room where Frederick slept and died : it 
was plain and simple ; and, upon the chimney-piece, 
was a beautiful antiqvie of Julius Csssar when a boy. 
After passing through several handsome rooms, we 
reached the dining-room. It is well known that Freder- 
ick the Great indulged in the pleasures of the table, and 
that English, French, German, Italian, Russian cooks, 
were employed in this royal philosopher's kitchen. The 
apartment of Voltaire, where I could not resist sitting 
down in his chair before his desk, dotted all ovci- with 
spots of a pen, more keen and triumphant than the 
sAvord, and wondermg how such a genius could associate 



^24 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 23, 

for three years with the crafty, ungrateful, cold, unger- 
-ous, tyrannical, rancorous, and implacable Frederick, 
ivho, if he merited the title of great, had no pretensions 
to that of good : that the wit and the sovereign should 
have differed no one can wonder ; but every one must 
that they had not quarrelled and parted sooner. 

In the life of Voltaire we see the triumph of letters. 
The late Empress of Russia courted his friendship by 
every touching art which, even from clever women in 
the ordinary ranks of life, is irresistible : she did nothing 
without affecting to consult him ; she invited him to Pe- 
tersburg, and placed the model of his house at Ferney, 
in the hermitage. Frederick the Great sought him with 
avidity, bordering on abject solicitation ; but the mean 
and ungenerous despotism of the sovereign's heart, ren- 
dered him unworthy the honor of an association, which 
with equal meanness and harshness he dissolved. Why 
was Voltaire thus courted by two of the most distinguish- 
ed potentates of their own, or perhaps of any other age ? 
Because they knew that the pen of such a genius could 
give any color to their actions, and could measure out 
and extend their fame. 

The gardens of Sans Souci appeared to be elegantly 
arranged ; but it was no time to explore leafless bower* 
tind alleys no longer green : 

*' When icicles hang by the wall, 

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, 
"And Tom bears logs into the hall. 

And milk comes frozen home in pail.'* 

The facade of Sans Souci, towards the plain, is very ele- 
gant ; towards the terrace very heavy, where it resem- 
bles more a great tasteless green-house than a royal 
residence. From Sans Souci, we drove through a beau- 
tiful park to the new palace, distant about an English 
mile and a half. After passing two grand lodges and 
out-offices, connected by an elegant semicircular colon- 
nade of eighty-eight columns, we entered the palace, 
the front of v/hich is adorned with Corinthian pilasters, 
and the body built with the rich red Dutch brick : the 



€HAr.23.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 3?5 

<hall was a superb vaulted grotto, formed of chrystals, 
branches of coral and shells, and fountains, arranged with 
-equal elegance and novelty. Respecting the construc- 
tion of this extraordinary apartment, the king and his fa- 
vbrite architect had a violent dispute ; the latter insist- 
ing that it should be a vestibule, the former a grotto. 
The royal disputant of course prevailed, and the archi- 
tect was so disgusted, that he declined proceeding in the 
quilding. It was lucky for him, that the tyrant Frede- 
rick had not sent him to the fortress of Spandaw, where 
so many brave men, who had fought and bled for him, 
have been immured for some error in petty punctilio, to 
meditate on the superiority of grottoes over vestibules : 
the rest of the rooms are very elegant. Having satis- 
fied our curiosity, we galloped to the little marble palace, 
about two English miles off, built also by Frederick the 
Great, of Silesian marble and Dutch brick : I was more 
pleased with it, than with the Petite Trianon at Ver- 
sailles. The road to the pavilion is lined with small 
-rustic dwellings, surrounded by shrubs for the house- 
-hold : on the left is an extensive and elegant orangerie, 
*in the centre of which is a superb ball-room, lined with 
mirrors, and opening on either side into alleys of orange 
;and lemon trees : on the right are the kitchens, exter- 
nally resembling the ruins of an Athenian temple : a lake, 
lined with elegant groups of trees, pleasure-houses, cot- 
tages, and mills washes the terrace of the little palace, 
the apartments of which are small but singularly ele- 
gant, and were adorned with some exquisite antiques. 
Upon our return to our hotel the clock struck four : 
just as we had begun to thaw ourselves with some soup, 
attended, as the Saxon kings of old were, by a wandering 
harper at our door, just as he had sweetly and wildly- 
run over the first division of a German air, by which 
time my intelligent companion and I had settled it, that 
had the palaces been covered with rubies, and the trees 
of the royal gardens dropped pearls, we should return 
discontented to Berlin, unless we had beheld the lovely- 
Queen of Prussia ; in truth, she was the principal ob- 
ject of our excursion ; the son of our host ran into the 

Dd 



326 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 23. 

room, to tell us the Queen's carriage was just dra^vn up 
to the great palace, which our window commanded 
From a little private door of this vast pile, she descend- 
ed, leaning upon the arm of a page, and attended by an 
elderly lady of the court ; upon seeing us she stopped, 
and moved to us in the most gracious and enchanting 
manner. She is very fair, her face sweet, elegant, and 
expressive : 



Whose red and white 



Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on." 

Her hair is light, her figure exquisite ; and as she step- 
ped into her carriage, she displayed a foot and ankle 
which at once convinced us that the most perfect sym- 
metry reigned throughout her frame. Her charms were 
heightened by her situation ; she was expected, in a few 
days, to augment the illustrious House of Branden- 
bourg. At a party at the British ambassador's, Mr. 
Jackson, I was regaled with the most enchanting ac- 
count of her amiable virtues ; but to look at her is suf- 
ficient : 

*' There's nothing ill can dwell in such a tenaple." 

She is very fond of retirement, and devotes herself to 
the education of her children. As my stay in Berlin 
was too short to admit of my being presented, I was 
much gratified in seeing a Princess of whom every one 
speaks with rapture. The manner in which her mar- 
riage occurred was interesting : At a grand review, 
which took place at Francfort on the Main, Monsieur 
Beathman, one of the richest bankers upon the conti- 
nent, appeared at the parade, with a superb equipage : 
struck with his appearance, the King enquired his name, 
and Monsieur B. was introduced, who invited his Ma- 
jesty to a grand fete he intended giving that evening at 
his chateau, which invitation the King accepted, and there 
met the lovely Princess of Mecklenburgh Strelitz ; to 
kok upon and love her were the same. About eighteen 



Chap. 23.] NORTHERN SUMMER. S^f 

months after their marriage, they paid a visit to Mon- 
siem' B. ; and, as they entered the room Avhere their 
first interview occcurred, the King caught his royal 
bride in his arms, -iussed her, and, with tears of sensi- 
bility, exclaimed, " It was in this very room, my dear 
" Beathman, that I found the treasure of my happiness." 
The royal couple are remarkably domestic, and largely 
taste of those endearing and tranquil enjoyments v/hicli 
are seldom seen in the neighborhood of a throne. 

The great palace at Potsdam, in which the royal flim- 
ily principally reside, has a few elegant state rooms : in 
one of which was a half-length portrait of Bonaparle. 
The Queen had displayed her taste by decorating one of 
her little cabinets with engravings from some of the ex- 
quisite productions of Westall. 

The next morning (Sunday) we attended the two pa- 
rades, which take place on this day within two hours of 
each other ; I should suppose about ten thousand men 
Tivere upon the ground ; they presented a very noble 
appearance. The King, attended by several officers, 
v/as present. In roving through the city, we observed 
that its size and buildings resembled those of Berlin, 
and that it was equally gloomy. 

Upon our return, a soldier mounted the coach -box of 
the diligence at the gate at Berlin, and as we passed close 
to our inn, we called to the driver to let us out, but the 
soldier refused, and upon our attempting to get out, 
jumped down, drew his bayonet, and called the guard, 
upon which, with some little surprise, we submitted to 
be taken to the post-house, at the further end of the 
city, where we were suffered to alight without further 
molestation. This regulation is a part of the military 
police of this despotic government, which converts- 
every city into barracks, and palaces into head quarters. 
Upon regaining our hotel, cold and hungry, and ordering 
our dinner, we found that the cooks, it being climanche, 
Vvxre all gone to the theatre : however, one of them was 
soon found, and our appetites soon satisfied. 

On the 5th of November, at eleven o'clock in the 
morning, as I wished to see a little more of the manners 



328 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^S. 

of the people I mounted the Hamburg diligence, and 
proceeded in it as far as Grabow, and afterwards travelled 
post to Husum : this machine was much inferior to its 
Potsdam brother ; it was a leather tilted waggon with- 
out springs, filled with rows of seats, separated from 
each other by iron bars ; behind was a basket for hay : 
there were neither glasses nor wooden pannels in the 
sides, but two hard leather curtains were dropped and 
buttoned down, when it rained or was cold. The pas- 
sengers consisted of tvvo Prussian ladies, a girl servant, 
an Hungarian officer, myself, and one conducteur, an old- 
^Tinkled gentleman of sixty-five at least, who lost all his 
tivacity when he set down the girl, between whom some 
tender touches of the hand, and gentle whispers, passed 
during one of the most bitter nights I ever experienced. 
The ladies, who were neither handsome nor aged, and 
were, as I learned, very respectable women, made no 
hesitation in tying up their garters, sans ceremcnie, and, 
in other matters of travelling comfort, displayed as little 
restraint as the French ladies. All night, it being dark, 
and the roads very deep and sandy, we moved at a funeral 
pace. The next evening I bade adieu to the Hamburg 
diligence, and having convinced myself of the danger 
of attempting to push through that spit of Hanover 
through which the direct Hamburg road lies, in conse- 
quence of the ruffian-like perfidious violation of the law of 
nations, exhibited in the seizure of our ambassador. Sir 
George Rumbold, at that city, I ordered a stuhKvaggon 
&t Perlberg, and travelled post to Swerin, the capital of 
the duchy of Meckleburg Swerin, which commences on 
this side at Grabow. In this petty state, luxuriant in 
corn fields, posting, which constitutes one of the reve- 
nues of the duchy, is very dear ; for five German miles 
paid seven dollars and tv/o groschen. To avoid this 
extortion, I recommend a traveller to hire a furhman at 
Perlberg to carry him through to Lubec : he will save 
considerably by it. A little beyond Grabow I passed a 
superb country residence of the reigning Duke, situated 
in a beautiful country, and surrounded by a very neat 
village. Swerin is a large and respectable town, where 



Chap. 23.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 329 

the inns are very good, and well supplied with French 
spies. The palace is a vast and very ancient build- 
ing, forming an oblong square, presenting galleries, 
balconies, and turrets, without end. The soldiers on 
duty were fine-looking fellows ; the forces of the Duke 
amount to fourteen hundred men. I could not help 
smiling when, upon discharging my driver at this town, 
he presented me, with great ceremony, a government 
receipt, to shew that he had paid two groschen for per- 
mission to pass over a nearer and better road, which led 
from the country palace of the Duke. The Malagy 
wine, of which a great quantity is brought to this duchy, 
is excellent and reasonable. 

The approach to Lubec v/as through a noble road, 
lined with stately lindens, extending four English miles ; 
it was dusk when I entered it, and early in the morning 
when I left it ; but, if I inay judge by its avenues, gates, 
and streets, I should pronounce it to be a very beautiful, 
extensive, and wealthy city. It has a small surrounding 
territory, and is at present independent ; but strong fears 
may be entertained that, follov/ing the example of Dant- 
zig, its sovereignty is nearly at a close, and that it will 
speedily be • incorporated v/ith Hanoverian France. 
Through every town to Husum I was obliged to give 
my name and quality. An English humorist, who had 
by virtue of his freehold a parliamentary vote in th^ 
municipal county, upon being stopped at the gate of a 
town in some part of Germany, throughout v/hich em- 
pire an elector is considered as a personage only inferior 
to the Emperor, and upon his naine being demanded, re- 
plied, " Je suis un Electeur de Middlesex ;" upon which 
the Cciptain ordered the guard to tarn out and salute 
him, and sent a company to follow the carriage to the 
inn, and attend him there, and paid him all the hon- 
ors due to an electoral Prince. The delusion was 
easily carried on, for princes, even crowned heads in 
Germany, and various other parts of the continent, 
trouble themselves but little about equipage. The veii- 
erable and gallant Prince dc Eigne, whom I have before 
named, a Prince of great rank and dignitv, under tk:;; 

D d 2 



S30 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 23. 

pressure of seventy years, travelled from Vienna to Ber- 
lin a distance of seven hundred English miles, in an open 
common stuhlwaggon. After waiting a few days at Hu- 
Bum, where, like the hunted hare, I returned to the spot 
I first started from, during which tv/o French spies 
dined every day at our table dViote^ and gave regular 
communications of the arrival of every Englishman at 
the nearest Hanoverian posts> I went on board the pack- 
et, which narrowly escaped being frozen in the river, and 
after encountering a severe gale, during which our only 
consolation resembled that of Gonzalo in the Tempest, 
»who observed of his captain, " That he seemed to have 
" no dro^yning mark upon him," we crossed the north 
seas in forty -six hours, and landef'd upon the shores of 
that beloved country which, uneclipsed by any superior 
in arms, in arts, or in sciences ; and without a rival in 
commerce, in agriculture, or in riches ; possesses more 
religion and morality, more humanity and miunificence, 
more public and private integrity, is more blessed with 
freedom, more enlightened by eloquence, more adorned 
with beauty, more graced with chastity, and richer in 
all the requisites to form that least assuming, but first 
of earthly blessings, domestic comfort^ than any nation 
upon the globe. 

If, my Reader ! after having paid our homage to the 
merits of other countries, we return together, with more 
settled admiration, to that which has giyen us birth, I 
shall the less regret my absence from her, and from those 
who are the dearest to my heart, and to whom I am 
indebted for all my present enjoyments. 

Having felt most sensibly, in the hour of my return, 
those prime distinctions of my country, which eminent- 
ly and justly endear her to all her children, I close the 
volume with an ardent wish, that Heaven may gracious- 
ly render those distinctions perpetual. 



FINIS. 



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